WALES

Police Recruitment

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department about the recruitment of police officers in Wales.

Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend and I are in regular contact with colleagues about issues affecting Wales, including policing matters.
	Interim figures show that on 31 January 2002, there were 7,116 police officers in Wales. In 2002–03, Welsh forces have been allocated funding for an additional 136 recruits under the Crime Fighting Fund. These will be in addition to any other planned recruitment.

Unemployment

Betty Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales about unemployment levels in Wales.

Paul Murphy: I have regular discussions with the First Minister on a range of issues including unemployment in Wales.
	The Government recognise that certain sectors, particularly manufacturing, have experienced tough times, due largely to the world economic slowdown. However, over the last year Wales has the best record of any nation or region in the UK in cutting unemployment. Labour force survey statistics show that the unemployment rate in Wales has fallen to 5.4 per cent., down 0.8 percentage points on a year earlier.

Unemployment

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales about unemployment levels in Wales.

Paul Murphy: I have regular discussions with the First Minister on a wide range of issues including the levels of unemployment in Wales.
	The Labour Force Survey statistics show the unemployment rate in Wales has fallen 5.4 per cent., down 0.8 percentage points on a year earlier, while the claimant count was also down by 0.5 percentage points.

Legislative Procedures

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to introduce new procedures for the consideration of primary legislation affecting Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Murphy: The current procedure for progressing Welsh legislation through Parliament since the establishment of the National Assembly is working very well. There are already procedural options for dealing with Welsh only primary legislation and each piece of legislation will be considered on its merits.

Legislative Procedures

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to improve the procedure for legislating in Wales.

Paul Murphy: The current procedure for progressing Welsh legislation through Parliament since the establishment of the National Assembly is working very well. There are already procedural options for dealing with Wales-only primary legislation and each situation will be considered on its merits.

Structural Funds

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly about the progress of the Objective One programme in Wales.

Paul Murphy: I meet the First Minster regularly to discuss a range of issues, including progress with the Objective One programme. At 21 March, over 500 Objective One projects had been approved, worth a total of over £300 million in European grants. Over £68 million of Objective One grant has already been paid out by the Assembly.

Structural Funds

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly about the application of EU structural funds in Wales.

Paul Murphy: I meet the First Secretary regularly to discuss a range of issues, including progress with structural fund programmes in Wales. However, day to day administration of these programmes is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales and its executive agency, the Welsh European Funding Office.

Aerospace Industry (North Wales)

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the aerospace industry in North Wales.

Don Touhig: I recognise that prospects for the whole of the North Wales aerospace industry are underpinned by the continued success of Airbus at Broughton. I am pleased that Airbus has so far managed to weather the uncertainty brought about by September 11 with minimal risk to jobs. This has been due in no small part to the good working relationship built up between management and unions. I would urge Airbus staff to continue to work constructively with unions and management in the coming months.

Steel Industry

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the future of the steel industry in Wales.

Paul Murphy: This Government believe that the British steel industry is among the most efficient in the world. I believe that the Welsh steel industry has a long term future, despite the regrettable decision of Corus to cut UK steel capacity.

Steel Industry

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new initiatives he intends to promote to strengthen the steel industry.

Paul Murphy: The Government work closely with the UK steel industry and provide support where the strict state aid provisions permit. Since 1997 the Government have supported a number of industry led initiatives designed to improve the sector's competitiveness. In February, we announced funding of £2.7 million for the new National Metals Technology Centre, which will play an important role in ensuring that the UK metals industry remains competitive and a world-leader in innovation. In addition, the Government continue to support the steel sector through the Metals Industry Competitive Enterprise (MICE) initiative, which has already resulted in significant improvements in the companies it has worked with.

Big Cats

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the National Assembly for Wales Secretary for Rural Affairs to establish the number of sightings of big cats in Wales over the last 12 months.

Paul Murphy: I have regular discussions with the First Minister on a wide range of issues including rural affairs.
	The Assembly's Agriculture Department receives reports from the public of big cat sightings and alleged livestock kills due to big cats.
	In 2001 there were seven reported sightings and four reports of livestock kills. So far in 2002 there has been one reported big cat sighting and two alleged live stock kills due to big cats.
	The Agriculture Department deals solely with cases involving threats to livestock. Any big cat reports that relate to human health are referred to the police. The Agriculture Department does not keep records of such cases.

Welsh Executive

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will discuss with the First Secretary the financial implications of maintaining the Welsh Executive at its present size.

Paul Murphy: Under the block funding arrangements it is for the Assembly to determine how it deploys its available resources.

Manufacturing Industry

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues about manufacturing industry in Wales.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues about manufacturing industry in Wales.

Paul Murphy: I regularly meet with my ministerial colleagues and discuss a range of issues including manufacturing.
	The Government recognise it is a particularly tough time for manufacturers in the UK, due to the slowdown in world economy and weakness of euro. However, these problems are not confined to the UK or, in particular, Wales.

National Health Service

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the NHS in Wales.

Don Touhig: The National Assembly have put in place various strategies to improve the NHS in Wales through increased funding to support the increased capacity of the NHS in Wales to treat patients, a waiting times strategy. The Government are supporting the Assembly's efforts through the primary legislation programme with measures for restructuring the NHS in Wales contained in the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill.

Severn Bridge

Huw Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will meet the First Secretary of the National Assembly to discuss the impact of recent closures of the Severn Bridge on Monmouthshire.

Paul Murphy: Closures of the M48 Severn crossing are a matter for the local police authorities, the Highways Agency and Severn River Crossing plc.
	Assembly officials and the local police authorities attend regular operational liaison meetings with the Highways Agency and Severn River Crossing plc. If my hon. Friend could provide me with more detail regarding his concerns, I will ensure that Assembly officials raise them at the next such meeting. I will of course advise my hon. Friend of the outcome of any such discussions.

Poverty

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he makes of the change in levels of poverty in Wales over the last five years.

Don Touhig: Poverty and social exclusion are complex multi-dimensional issues, affecting many aspects of people's lives including income, health, housing, the quality of their environment and opportunities to learn. There is no single measure that can capture the complex problems that need to be overcome.
	The annual report "Opportunity for all", available in the House of Commons Library, sets out and monitors the UK Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion. The UK Government are working in partnership with the National Assembly for Wales to tackle poverty and social exclusion in Wales.

Environmental Issues

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his responsibility for environmental issues affecting English constituencies across the Welsh border.

Paul Murphy: The bilateral concordat between the Assembly and the DTLR sets out the principles for dealing with cross-border environmental issues and the arrangements for joint sponsorship of the Environment Agency.

Youth Policy

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the mechanisms are for co-ordinating youth policy between his Department, the Welsh Assembly and Welsh local authorities.

Don Touhig: My Department maintains close contacts with both Whitehall and the National Assembly in the appropriate policy areas. The Crime Reduction Director for Wales is part of the Home Office regional team and, as such, provides a link between HO and the National Assembly on relevant aspects of youth policy.

Wales Office Staff

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were employed by the Wales Office in 1997; and what the current figure is.

Paul Murphy: For the period since April 2001 the average staff of my Department has been 44 full-time equivalents. The Wales Office did not exist in 1997.

Wales Office Staff

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are part-time employees.

Paul Murphy: The Wales Office at the present time has four staff who work part-time out of a total of 40 staff.

Engineering Profession

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the contribution made by the engineering academic profession to the Welsh economy.

Paul Murphy: The long established Engineering Education Scheme in Wales (EESW) and those participating in it are playing a formative role in shaping the engineers of tomorrow. This is one of the key elements in making a successful technology and innovation led economy.

Care Homes

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on care homes in Wales.

Don Touhig: The Assembly is very aware of the problems faced by the care sector. Its objective is to work with local government and the sector to improve the quality of care services and ensure a viable, and vibrant care home sector.
	At a national level the Assembly is taking strategic action and established a Wales Care Strategy Group to discuss the current problems facing the care sector.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 13 March 2002, Official Report, column 1073W.

Departmental Expenditure

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list his Department's expenditure by months in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000 and (d) 2000–01; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer he received from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 4 February 2002, Official Report, column 692W.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the National Assembly for Wales.

Paul Murphy: None; the nature of its functions means that the Wales Office undertakes very few consultations.

Cynon Valley

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales about health issues in the Cynon Valley.

Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend and I have regular discussions with the First Minister and Health Minister of the National Assembly for Wales about health issues in Wales. I am aware that the Assembly has recently discussed and endorsed the Townsend Report's proposals for addressing health inequalities in Wales. These will be particularly important to communities like the Cynon Valley.
	In addition, I am working closely with the Health Minister on primary legislation which will enable the Assembly to put in place structural changes to the NHS in Wales, with the aim of improving efficiency and management of the NHS in Wales.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by him and his predecessors since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Paul Murphy: holding answer 25 March 2002
	I have not appointed any unpaid advisers as defined in paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code and I have no record of my predecessors having done so.
	Details of unpaid appointments made to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups in Wales are set out in periodic reports issued by Cabinet Office, copies of which are in the Library of the House.

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  how many people have been employed by his Department in each of the last three years under (a) the new deal for young people, (b) the new deal for the over 50s and (c) the new deal for lone parents; and at what cost, listed by category, to public funds;
	(2)  how many people employed by his Department under the new deal for young people in each of the last four years have subsequently (a) found unsubsidised employment for more than 13 weeks and (b) returned to jobseeker's allowance or other benefits.

Paul Murphy: Since 1 July 1999, staff in my Department have generally been seconded from the National Assembly for Wales and elsewhere. During this period, there have been no people on new deal programmes employed in the Wales Office.
	Prior to that date the former Welsh Office employed seven staff under the new deal for young people. The movements of people from the new deal programme who left the Department are not monitored.
	New deal recruits take up existing vacancies so extra costs to public funds are limited to the subsidy, where appropriate, and any additional training and development which may be needed. The cost of the latter cannot be readily identified.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the (a) private finance initiatives and (b) public private partnership projects which have been delayed.

Paul Murphy: My Department does not have any private finance initiatives or public private partnerships that have been delayed.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Paul Murphy: Staff remain vigilant in implementing security arrangements.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each of the last five years the total amount of money spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes.

Paul Murphy: My Department spent some £21,000 on hospitality in 2000–01 and some £8,000 in 2001–02. Figures for 1999–2000 are not readily available.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

Paul Murphy: Since the establishment of the Wales Office on 1 July 1999, my special advisers have not spent any departmental funds on entertainment.
	Records prior to this date are not available.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

Paul Murphy: Information is available only for the period since the Wales Office was established on 1 July 1999.
	Departmental special advisers have accompanied Ministers on visits abroad on seven occasions, Belgium five times, Ireland once and Spain once. It is not practicable separately to identify the costs of these visits, but all journeys were judged to comply with the Civil Service Code.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many special advisers there were in his Department; and what their salaries were in each of the last five years.

Paul Murphy: Since its creation in July 1999, the Wales Office has had two special advisers. They are paid in accordance with the Government-wide special advisers' salary scales promulgated by the Cabinet Office.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Paul Murphy: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear its commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions.

Apprentice Training

Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he had with (a) the First Secretary of the National Assembly and (b) the Secretary of State for Defence regarding apprentice training at Aberporth, Ceredigion since 22 February.

Paul Murphy: I have had numerous discussions with Defence Ministers and the Assembly First Minister about this issue since 22 February. On 8 April 2002, the First Minister and I met with representatives of QinetiQ and ELWa to discuss the company's future training plans for Aberporth.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in his Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Paul Murphy: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be available after the Budget on 17 April.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by his Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose.

Paul Murphy: My Department has one digital satellite subscription at Gwydyr house. It allows Ministers to view Welsh TV channels when in London. It also gives access to the parliamentary channel.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by his Department.

Paul Murphy: My Department pays for one licence.

PRIME MINISTER

Terrorism

Llew Smith: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the Cabinet committees and sub-committees responsible for policy on combating terrorism and ensuring appropriate public protection.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Ms Ward) on 7 March 2002, Official Report, column 486W.

Overseas Visits

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the overseas missions undertaken on his behalf since 7 June by (a) Lord Levy and (b) the right hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson), listing in each case (i) persons and places visited, (ii) the reason for the visits and (iii) the cost to public funds.

Tony Blair: Pursuant to my reply of 23 October 2001, Official Report, columns 142–43W, I regret that due to an administrative error the information provided was incorrect.
	The appointment of my right hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson) as Chairman of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group was not made by me. The Group is an independent organisation, which exists to strengthen ties between Britain and Japan. It is largely funded by subscriptions from its corporate members. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has in recent years made an annual contribution of £4,000 to the Group. The post of Chairman of the Group is a part-time and unpaid appointment.

Phase Three Implementation

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 619W, if he will include the environment in his priorities for Phase Three.

Tony Blair: As I made clear in my speech "Environment, The Next Steps" last year, I want environmental issues to occupy a central part of the British Government agenda in the coming years.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Tony Blair: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister what new measures his office took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Tony Blair: Appropriate measures to maintain the security and integrity of my office are in place and regularly reviewed. It is not our practice to give details.

Part-time Employees

John Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister how many and what proportion of the staff of his office are part-time employees.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office today.

Ministerial Travel

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister how many times he has travelled abroad at taxpayers' expense since March 2001; what countries he visited; and what the total cost of each visit was.

Tony Blair: The information requested is included in the detailed list of Cabinet Ministers' visits overseas and information on expenditure by all Ministers on travel overseas. The list for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year.
	All travel is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister how many special advisers there were at No. 10 Downing street; and what their salaries were in each of the last five years.

Tony Blair: There are 27 special advisers in my office.
	Details of individual special adviser salaries within Departments are not given in order to protect the privacy of the individual concerned. The total cost of special advisers, including pensions and salaries, for the years 1997–98 to 2000–01 is as follows:
	
		
			 Year Cost (£ million) 
		
		
			 1997–98 2.6 
			 1998–99 3.5 
			 1999–2000 4.0 
			 2000–01 4.4 
		
	
	I have already announced the introduction of a revised pay system for special advisers based on individual job evaluation. The process of evaluation is under way. The cost for the years 2001–02 will be provided once the process is complete.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister how many times special advisers have accompanied him on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

Tony Blair: Information on the number of officials accompanying me on overseas visits is included in the detailed list of Cabinet Ministers' visits overseas and information on expenditure by all Ministers on travel overseas. Lists of overseas visits undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing more than £500 during the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2001 were placed in the Library of the House and published in the Official Report on 17 June 1999, columns 196–97W; on 28 July 2000, column 969W; and on 20 July 2001, column 467W. The list for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister what the total cost of running his press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.

Tony Blair: The total cost of running the No. 10 press office for 1996–97 was £597,240, and for 2000–01 was £954,659. The increase reflects the ever increasing media demands with the advent of more outlets, 24 hour news and growth of the internet, for example.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister how many press officers there were in No. 10 Downing street on (a) 1 May 1997 and (b) the latest available date.

Tony Blair: At 1 May 1997, there were nine press officers, and at 31 March 2002, there were 10 press officers on the payroll of No. 10, and one on secondment from FCO.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  how much was spent by No. 10 Downing street special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much was spent by staff at No. 10 Downing street on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

Tony Blair: For the total cost to my Office for all official entertainment at No. 10 Downing street and Chequers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 28 February 2002, Official Report, column 1444W.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General which public service agreement targets that are scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date.

Harriet Harman: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the 2002 Departmental Report.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Harriet Harman: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the 2002 Departmental Report.

DEFENCE

Advertising

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost was of media advertising in each of the past five parliamentary Sessions including the current Session, for his Department in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland; and for the last two parliamentary Sessions and the current parliamentary Session, what the media advertising expenditure was per month in (i) England, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland.

Lewis Moonie: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Information on expenditure on advertising and publicity is included in the departmental performance report. However, this information is recorded by financial year and not by parliamentary Session. For 1997–98 the information is shown in page 49 of Cm 4170; for 1999–2000 it is shown on page 60 of Cm 5000; and for 2000–01 it is shown on page 68 of Cm 5290. Copies of these reports are available in the Library of the House.
	Information for 1998–99 was not included in the performance report. The figures are as follows.
	
		
			 Category Expenditure in £ million 
		
		
			 Recruitment—RN/RFA 6.65 
			 Recruitment—Army 11.77 
			 Recruitment—RAF 10.17 
			 Recruitment—Civil Service 3.27 
			 PR, marketing and Business Support Services 0.84 
			 Chief of public relations expenditure 2.39 
			 Sales promotion 1.06 
			 Scholarships 0.38 
			 National Employers Liaison Committee (Territorial Army) 1.05 
		
	
	Information on the outturn figure for the last financial year is not yet available, but is expected to be published in the 2001–02 departmental performance report.

Advertising

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the expenditure was per campaign for the five most expensive media advertising campaigns his Department undertook in the past five parliamentary Sessions including the current parliamentary Session in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and for the last two parliamentary Sessions and the current Session, when each advertising campaign (i) began and (ii) ended in (A) Scotland, (B) England, (C) Wales and (D) Northern Ireland.

Lewis Moonie: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Sierra Leone

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military personnel are involved in Sierra Leone; how many have been involved in each of the past two years; what the cost to the MOD of the deployment has been; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: We currently have some 360 shore-based military personnel deployed in Sierra Leone, supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Geraint, and we will maintain our presence at that level over the period of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2002. We are also contributing 15 military observers and seven headquarters staff to UNAMSIL, the UN operation in Sierra Leone. At its peak, there were 4,500 personnel deployed on Operation PALLISER in May 2000, when we first committed troops in significant numbers. We then had up to 550–600 shore-based military personnel in Sierra Leone at any one time until the completion of basic infantry training for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) by British Short-Term Training Teams in September 2001. The re-configuration to the current troop levels was completed by January 2002. The cost to the Ministry of Defence of the deployments, excluding the provision of equipment to the RSLAF, was £16.9 million in financial year 2000–01. The cost of the deployments in the last financial year is estimated at around £28.25 million, and will be met from the cross-Government Africa Conflict Prevention Fund. The future costs of our military training and assistance programme will also be met from this budget.
	As I was able to see at first hand during my visit to Sierra Leone on 19–20 March, we are making good progress in helping to develop a professional, accountable and effective RSLAF and Sierra Leone MOD. The UK-led International Military Advisory and Training Team will continue the task of capacity-building in the RSLAF and the MOD over the longer term. Our ultimate aim is that the RSLAF will be able to protect the security and integrity of Sierra Leone without needing substantial external assistance.

Navy Vessels

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether HMS Newcastle and HMS Cardiff are due to be decommissioned in 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 March 2002, Official Report, column 34W to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray).

Navy Vessels

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the refit for HMS Illustrious will (a) commence and (b) be completed; and what use will be made of HMS Illustrious in the period to the start of the refit.

Adam Ingram: Refit work on HMS Illustrious will start in October 2002 and is expected to complete in autumn 2004. From 27 May 2002 until the start of her refit, HMS Illustrious will be held in reduced readiness.

QinetiQ

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the equity of QinetiQ the Government will retain as the golden share.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 March 2002, Official Report, columns 313–14W to my hon. Friend the Member for St. Helens, North (Mr. Watts). The right required by the Government to protect the United Kingdom defence and security interests can be provided through the retention of a single special, or golden, share, it does not require the retention of any additional percentage of the equity.

QinetiQ

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those who have expressed interest in becoming a strategic partner to QinetiQ.

Lewis Moonie: In response to an advertisement in the press, almost 40 parties have expressed interest in becoming a strategic partner to QinetiQ. In order to achieve best value for the taxpayer, the Government are seeking to maintain a high degree of competitive tension among potential bidders. Publishing a list of interested parties at this stage in the process would not be consistent with this objective.

QinetiQ

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the equity of QinetiQ will be available to strategic partners.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 March 2002, Official Report, columns 313–14W, to my hon. Friend the Member for St. Helens, North (Mr. Watts). The percentage of equity in QinetiQ that will be available to strategic partners will be determined as part of the negotiation process, but it is likely that the strategic partner will have the opportunity to acquire a substantial minority or a small majority stake.

Afghanistan

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the number of civilian and military casualties in Afghanistan since the start of present hostilities.

Geoff Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 9 November 2001, Official Report, column 432W.

Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if British troops in Afghanistan will be engaged in efforts to reduce (a) poppy cultivation and (b) the merchandising of heroin.

Adam Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 870W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Eastwood (Mr. Murphy). The further 1,700 troops currently deploying to Afghanistan will be concentrating on operations against remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Afghanistan

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the security situation in (a) Kabul and (b) Afghanistan.

Geoff Hoon: The security situation in Kabul appears relatively stable, especially owing to the excellent work of the International Security Assistance Force in accordance with UN SCR 1386. In Afghanistan as a whole, the situation is less stable with significant numbers of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters still active. This is why we are deploying 45 Commando Group as set out in my statement of 18 March.

Afghanistan

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated number of Taliban and al-Qaeda troops remaining in Afghanistan is; and if he will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: We estimate that the number of Taliban and al-Qaeda troops remaining in Afghanistan is in the low thousands. They pose a continuing and significant threat to international security.

Afghanistan

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage UK forces constitute of the coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Geoff Hoon: The numbers of coalition forces in Afghanistan vary over time. Once the deployment of 45 Commando Group has been completed, UK personnel should constitute some 15–20 per cent. of total coalition forces. These figures do not include the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.

Retired Officers

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review his Department's policy on offering Golden Jubilee medals to retired officers.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 February 2002, Official Report, column 569W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Bob Russell).

Retired Officers

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many retired officers have been offered a financial enhancement to remain in post in the last 12 months.

Lewis Moonie: Retired officers are employed as civil servants within the Ministry of Defence. Like other civil servants, circumstances may occasionally arise when they will be invited to extend their service. Retired officers are not offered financial enhancement in such circumstances.

Retired Officers

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many officers aged 60 years and above have applied for, and been accepted for, continued service in this Army in the last 12 months.

Lewis Moonie: The total number of officers aged 60 years and above that have applied and been accepted for continued service in the last 12 months is six.

Balkans

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops are serving in (a) Bosnia, (b) Kosovo and (c) Macedonia; and in what role.

Adam Ingram: The United Kingdom currently contributes some 1,900 personnel to SFOR operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina as the co-ordinating nation in Multinational Division (South-West). UK forces make a vital contribution to all of the tasks undertaken by SFOR in building peace and stability in Bosnia. SFOR continue to provide a background security presence, ensuring a peaceful and safe environment while the Bosnian people reconstruct their lives and reform their civilian and military institutions.
	The UK currently contributes some 3,000 personnel to KFOR operations in Kosovo as framework nation of Multinational Brigade (Centre). UK forces take part in the full range of tasks carried out by KFOR. KFOR's main focus is the provision of a safe and secure environment in Kosovo, including the protection of minority communities and the countering of threats from extremist groups.
	At any one time there are a dozen or so UK armed forces personnel working in Macedonia as part of the headquarters of NATO's Task Force Fox and in support of KFOR. Some may be double-hatted to both. In addition, three UK armed forces personnel are providing advice to the Macedonian Ministry of Defence as part of a bilateral Outreach programme. One UK Army officer has been seconded to the British embassy in Skopje as Defence Attaché.

Market Research

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure has been incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each.

Lewis Moonie: As the Modernising Government White Paper set out, it is important to this Government that we listen to what people have to say about new proposals and policies. Quantitative and qualitative surveys by focus groups, public opinion research and other forms of market research are an integral and important part of Ministry of Defence work. Public research spending, however is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for money for the taxpayer and must not be used for party political purposes.
	Information on the totality of quantitative and qualitative surveys carried out by the Ministry of Defence and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	However, our central corporate communications division, which carries out public opinion research relating to the Ministry of Defence as a whole, does have a record of research initiated by them. From the information available, the following surveys have been carried out in each of the last four years (the 2001–02 figure includes money committed, but not yet spent). Costs are inclusive of VAT:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1998–99(1)  
			 Royal Tournament exit questionnaire  
			 Strategic Defence Review research77,396.86  
			 Media evaluation  
			   
			 1999–2000(1)  
			 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly)  
			 NATO Strategy Development research96,211.56  
			 Media evaluation  
			   
			 2000–01(1)  
			 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly)33,884.65  
			 Public Attitudes to Defence focus groups  
			   
			 2001–02(1)  
			 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly)  
			 Public Attitudes to Defence focus groups100,570.27  
			 SDR New Chapter focus groups  
		
	
	(1) Financial year

Explosives

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will ensure that the negotiations between his Department and BAE Systems over explosive manufacture include the true cost of overseas production;
	(2)  what state negotiations between his Department and BAE over explosive manufacture are at;
	(3)  when the negotiations between his Department and BAE Systems on the requirements for explosives are due to be completed.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) maintains a continuous dialogue with Royal Ordnance Defence (ROD) about the supply of explosives under the 10-year MOD/ROD Framework Partnering Agreement (FPA). In accordance with the provisions of the FPA, the Department is required to maintain a schedule of business. This details current contracts with ROD and provides visibility of MOD's potential future requirements. The schedule of business is reviewed on a quarterly basis with ROD.
	The sourcing of component parts for individual munitions is a matter for ROD. The company will source these parts as necessary to ensure that the requirements of the MOD for safe and reliable munitions will continue to be met in the most cost-effective way. Enshrined in the FPA is the principle of open book accounting, which ensures that the MOD has full visibility of ROD costs.

Service Accommodation

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average waiting time is for (a) single living accommodation and (b) married quarters; what the average wait was in 1992; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Normally there is no such waiting time. When a single Service person is posted to a unit, he or she will be accommodated upon arrival under their terms and conditions of service. In the rare event when no appropriate single accommodation is available, he or she will either be accommodated exceptionally in Service Family Accommodation (SFA), or in privately rented accommodation obtained through an accommodation agency appointed by the Ministry of Defence, with the Service person receiving Substitute Single Service Accommodation Allowance. For married accompanied personnel, the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) is tasked to provide SFA with 28 days of a Service applicant's required date. If DHE accommodation is unavailable, DHE pays for Substitute Service Family Accommodation (SSFA) to be provided from the private rental market. During 2000–01, DHE housed more than 97 per cent. of entitled Service families in SFA or SSFA within 28 days of their required date. Comparable figures for 1992 are not available: there are also no centrally-held records of waiting times for single accommodation in 1992.

Warship Maintenance

Syd Rapson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the timing of the decision on warship maintenance and support.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 21 March 2002
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answer which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence gave on 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 562W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew).

Aircraft (India)

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to ensure that Jaguar aircraft (a) supplied directly from the UK to India and (b) produced under licence in India will not be modified to make them capable of carrying a nuclear payload;
	(2)  whether the Jaguar combat aircraft (a) supplied directly from the UK to India and (b) produced under licence in India (i) is capable and (ii) will be modified to become capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

Lewis Moonie: Any aircraft capable of delivering a bomb is capable of modification to enable it to deliver a nuclear weapon. For the Government's policy in respect of controls on exports to nuclear or nuclear related end-users I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend the then Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Lloyd) on 10 July 1998, Official Report, column 687W, to my hon. Friend the Member of South Thanet, (Dr. Ladyman) and by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Europe (Mr. Hain) to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford, (Dr. Stoate) on 3 July 2000, Official Report, column 3W, and by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Bradshaw) to my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton, (Mr. Love) on 15 March 2002, Official Report, columns 1297W-98W.

Aircraft (India)

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what undertakings the Government have received from the Indian Government regarding the end use of Jaguar combat aircraft (a) sold directly to the Indian Government and (b) produced under licence in India.

Lewis Moonie: Information on end use documentation provided in support of an export licence application is confidential and I am withholding it in accordance with Exemptions 1, 13 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Aircraft (India)

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Jaguar combat aircraft (a) have been produced under licence in India and (b) are contracted to be produced under licence in India.

Lewis Moonie: This information is confidential between the company (BAE Systems) and the Government of India.

Aircraft (India)

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Hawk trainer aircraft under negotiation for sale to India are (a) capable of being modified to perform ground attack functions and (b) are suitable for training pilots to fly Jaguar combat aircraft.

Lewis Moonie: The Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer has a limited ground attack capability. It is designed for operational combat training as well as to train pilots to fly fast jets, including Jaguar.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Lewis Moonie: The numbers of individuals on secondment from outside the public sector to the Ministry of Defence in each of the years specified are set out in the table:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1999 22 
			 2000 27 
			 2001 24 
		
	
	In total this represents 44 individuals, as a number of the secondments spanned more than one year.

Staff (Local Elected Representatives)

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of staff at his Department are locally elected democratic representatives; and if he has a strategy for his Department to encourage members of staff to become locally elected democratic representatives.

Lewis Moonie: Records of members of staff who are locally elected democratic representatives are not maintained centrally and so it is not possible to provide an estimate without disproportionate cost. It is the Ministry of Defence's policy to allow civilian staff, at all levels, to take full advantage of the special paid leave provisions which allow officers who are elected members of a local authority to take up to 18 days' leave each year to attend to their duties which require absence during working hours.

Israel

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the occasions in the last five years when British forces have been involved in training exercises with Israeli forces; and what the purpose was of each of these exercises.

Adam Ingram: There have been no bilateral training exercises between the British and Israeli armed forces in the last five years. The RAF has participated in exercises in the United States at which the Israeli Air Force among other nations have at times been involved. The purpose of such exercises is to maintain operational effectiveness.

A400M

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress on the A400M; and in particular what recent discussions he has had with his German counterpart.

Lewis Moonie: The A400M partner nations continue to work closely with a view to bringing the contract into effect in the very near future. Senior officials met on 22 March at which they identified mechanisms for achieving this; these are currently under consideration.

A400M

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the in-service date is for the A400M; and what its original In Service Date was.

Lewis Moonie: The current In Service Date (ISD) is 2010 against an original date of 2009. To minimise the impact of cost increases caused by a number of changes by other nations both to offtake and the timing of deliveries, the UK negotiated a restructured delivery schedule; this resulted in the one-year delay. The change was made in agreement with the other partner nations in November and was made without affecting the contract negotiations. The ISD for the A400M has always been around the end of the decade and we are making good progress towards the contract entering force.

A400M

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what impact the A400M project will have on the Teesside region, with particular regard to new contracts and job creation.

Lewis Moonie: To ensure best value for money, the A400M contract does not prescribe any national workshare arrangements. The prime contractor, Airbus Military, and its sub-contractor, Airbus UK, are free to select their suppliers on grounds of performance and cost. Airbus UK has estimated that the A400M programme will directly create up to 2,500 high quality jobs in the UK—notably in design and advanced manufacturing. They have calculated that indirect employment could bring that figure to over 8,000. It is not possible to say where these jobs will be located, but companies in the Teesside region will of course be free to compete for work on this important project.

OCCAR

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the type of programmes the UK will be involved in as a member of OCCAR; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The Organisation for Joint Armaments Co-operation (OCCAR) was created to manage a wide range of European collaborative defence equipment programmes. Decisions to integrate equipment programmes into OCCAR are taken jointly by the member nations (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) taking into account a variety of factors. To date, the UK is involved in two OCCAR managed projects: the Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle and Counter Battery Radar programmes. The A400M military transport aircraft programme is intended to be passed to OCCAR management once the contract has been activated.

OCCAR

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how membership of OCCAR will affect decisions made about defence procurement; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Defence equipment procurement decisions will continue to be made with the overall aim of ensuring that our armed forces are provided with equipment which meets their needs, and which is delivered to time and is cost effective. The founding principles of Organisation for Joint Armaments Co-operation, and the processes that it uses for procurement management, are entirely consistent with this aim.

Ministerial Private Offices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the running costs were of (a) his Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff and (b) his Department in each year from May 1997 to the nearest date for which the information is available.

Lewis Moonie: The information requested is not readily available; however, I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Royal Ordnance, Bishopton

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are for his position on the Royal Ordnance factory at Bishopton to be changed.

Lewis Moonie: The Royal Ordnance factories passed into private ownership in April 1987. The Bishopton facility is now operated by Royal Ordnance Defence (ROD), which is owned by BAE Systems. Decisions on the future of ROD sites, including Bishopton, are a matter for the company.

Royal Ordnance, Bishopton

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the overseas sources which will meet his Department's requirements for propellants following the closure of Royal Ordnance, Bishopton.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence places contracts with a prime contractor for the supply of whole munitions and the sourcing of components for those munitions, such as propellant, is a matter for the prime contractor. The MOD considers achieving value for the taxpayers' money, as well as security of supply, to be key criteria in the procurement of safe and reliable munitions for the armed forces. The MOD understands that Royal Ordnance Defence has entered into a long-term supply agreement for propellant with Nitrochemie AG of Germany.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what exports of cluster munitions there have been by the Disposal Sales Agency and licensed sub-contractors since October 1994; and how many cluster munitions were exported and to which countries;
	(2)  what exports of surplus BL755 cluster munitions there were via the surplus sales programme in the three years up to 1995; which countries received the munitions; how many cluster munitions were involved; and what was the value of the sales;
	(3)  what transfers of cluster munitions there were to foreign Governments between 1972 and 1994 under the surplus sales programme; and if he will provide the (a) number of cluster munitions transferred and (b) countries of destination;
	(4)  what transfers of cluster munitions to foreign Governments have taken place since 2 May 1997 under the surplus sales programme; how many cluster munitions were transferred; and what the countries of destination were.

Lewis Moonie: There are no records of any Government-to-Government sales of surplus BL755 cluster munitions (or other surplus cluster munitions) by the Disposal Services Agency (DSA) (formerly known as the Disposal Sales Agency), nor any through its appointed contractors, since 1994. Records of any sales pre-dating 1994 are not available.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what exports of cluster munitions there were by International Military Services between 1972 and 1994; and how many cluster munitions were exported and what the countries of destination were.

Lewis Moonie: International Military Services ceased trading in 1991 and their records for contracts before 1991 have been destroyed. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the loose minute Interdepartmental Committee Iran and Iraq D/DESS/12/20 dated 19 October 1988, to which countries the MOD/DESO promoted the BL755 cluster munitions; and which countries purchased the BL755 cluster munition system subsequent to promotional activity by his Department.

Lewis Moonie: I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

MOD Estate

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what method is used to share the financial benefits of third party commercial use of MOD (a) airfields and (b) other property.

Lewis Moonie: It is the Ministry of Defence's policy to exploit spare capacity, on a commercial basis, in order to generate income. There may be occasions where we use an agent or partner and on these occasions the fee will be negotiated on a case by case basis.

Planning Applications, RAF Halton

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what regard he has had to DETR Circular 02/99 in submitting planning applications for the development of the Princess Mary hospital site, RAF Halton.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 26 March 2002
	The Ministry of Defence has had full regard to Circular 02/99 in submitting the planning applications for the development of Princess Mary's hospital site at RAF Halton, including seeking formal guidance from Aylesbury Vale district council on the application of the regulations concerning Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Statements.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Lewis Moonie: A summary of progress made in 2001–02 against the Ministry of Defence's Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets will be included in the Government's expenditure plans 2002–03 to 2003–04 for the MOD, due to be published in the spring. A full account of MOD performance in 2001–02, including details of new initiatives to support the achievement of PSA and other internal targets, will be published in the MOD performance report this autumn.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Lewis Moonie: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on ministerial accountability and parliamentary questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

West Freugh Airfield

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date fire service cover at West Freugh airfield was withdrawn; and what contingency cover is available for future emergency use of the airfield.

Lewis Moonie: Fire service cover was withdrawn at West Freugh airfield on 28 March when full-time operation came to an end. The airfield is now in care and maintenance but can be reactivated for exercises or other short term use. In such a case military users will provide air traffic control and fire cover to suit specific circumstances.

West Freugh Airfield

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations from (a) QinetiQ, (b) Serco and (c) DERA were received prior to the decision to close West Freugh airfield for routine operations.

Lewis Moonie: The former DERA was, as previously announced, subsumed in QinetiQ and DSTL in July 2001. Both QinetiQ and Serco have raised issues pertaining to the site but neither company objected to the cessation of full-time airfield operations at West Freugh.

Relocation

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to relocate executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies under the remit of his Department to Scotland.

Lewis Moonie: None of the Ministry of Defence agencies nor any of the MOD-sponsored non-departmental public bodies has any plans to relocate to Scotland.

War Pensions

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of those granted a medical discharge from the (a) Royal Navy, (b) Army and (c) RAF over the last five years have succeeded on appeal in obtaining a war pension; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Data are not recorded in a format which can provide information relating to the success of appeals in respect of ex-service personnel who were granted a medical discharge from the armed forces. The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Medical Discharges

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of those people granted a medical discharge from the armed forces in the last five years have been granted a war pension; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: In the last five years, war pensions have been awarded to 3,048 people who have been granted a medical discharge from the armed forces.

Deployments

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel from the (a) Royal Navy, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Army are on deployment to (i) NATO Headquarters in Brussels, (ii) NATO Southern Command and (iii) other NATO command centres; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The information requested is set out in the table.
	
		
			 Command RN RAF Army Total 
		
		
			 NATO HQ 16 20 23 59 
			 SHAPE 50 136 161 347 
			 ACE southern region 112 82 85 279 
			 ACE northern region 58 312 323 693 
			 SACLANT (USA) 36 12 3 51 
			 EASTLANT (UK) 116 62 3 181 
			 SOUTHLANT (Portugal) 31 11 0 42 
			  
			 Total 419 635 598 1,652

Deployments

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK service personnel from the (a) Army, (b) RAF and (c) Royal Navy have been deployed at SHAPE in the last five years; how many of these have been deployed for a year or less; how many have been deployed between one and two years; how many have been deployed for more than two years; what the total cost is of family support and other benefits to those personnel on deployment; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, single service personnel administration systems are not programmed to hold manning figures for more than six months beyond an individual's tenure of a particular appointment; precise figures for the last five years are therefore not available. Data for UK personnel serving at SHAPE on 1 April 2002 are however given in the table, and broadly reflect the service ratio prior to NATO restructuring on 1 September 1999, when there were 360 UK military personnel at SHAPE.
	
		
			 Service Less than 1 year in post 1–2 years in post More than 2 years in post Total 
		
		
			 Army 71 63 27 161 
			 RAF 44 47 45 136 
			 RN 26 18 6 50 
			  
			 Total 141 128 78 347 
		
	
	In financial year 2001–02, the total cost of support for the UK SHAPE contingent, which includes associated UK civilian elements, is £8.907 million. Within that figure the cost of delivering family support to UK service personnel and dependants is estimated at approximately £7.9 million per annum. This figure includes: salaries for support unit staff; utilities; rents; property management and accommodation stores; staff training; administration; stationery and welfare.

Deployments

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK military personnel have been deployed to the US over the last three years; how many have been deployed between six months and two years; how many have been deployed for more than two years; how many are accompanied by families; what the total cost in each year for deployment of service personnel in the United States has been; what the cost of families accompanying service personnel has been in each of the last five years while on deployment in the US; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: 464 military personnel have been posted to the US over the last three years. 357 of these have been accompanied by their families.
	326 military personnel have been posted between six months and two years. 247 of these have been accompanied by their families.
	231 military personnel have been posted for more than two years. 185 of these have been accompanied by their families.
	The approximate in-country cost for service personnel and their families was:
	
		
			 Financial year £ million 
		
		
			 2001–02 14.5 
			 2000–01 12.0 
			 1999–2000 10.5 
			 1998–99 10.0 
			 1997–98 11.5 
		
	
	A breakdown of these costs between service personnel and their dependants could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Deployments

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel from the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF have been deployed to work with the EU defence projects in each of the last two years, including the current year; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The only EU military bodies created under ESDP are the EU Military Committee and the EU Military Staff. The Military Staff comprise fewer than 140 people, of which the UK contributes 16 military personnel—eight Army; four Royal Navy; and four RAF. The UK representative on the EU Military Committee is also our military representative to NATO.
	Other military and civilian personnel within the Ministry of Defence will deal with aspects of ESDP within the course of their normal duties.

Deployments

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military personnel have been deployed to the US within the military diplomatic system in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: During the last five years since March 1997 there have been:
	Three Heads of the British Defence Staff.
	Three Naval Attaches and three Assistant Naval Attaches.
	Three Military (Army) Attaches and three Assistant Military Attaches.
	Two Air Attaches and two Assistant Air Attaches.
	Three Heads of British Defence Intelligence Liaison Services.
	There is overlap due to some of the Attaches commencing duty prior to March 1997.

SA80

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the SA80 to be readmitted to the NATO list of approved weapons.

Adam Ingram: The modified SA80 was accepted as a NATO Nominated Weapon in March 2002.

SA80

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the requirements are for weapons to be admitted to the NATO list of approved weapons.

Adam Ingram: There is no NATO list of approved weapons. There are, however, procedures by which NATO member nations may introduce a national or foreign weapon as a NATO Nominated Weapon.
	The procedures for introducing NATO Nominated Weapons are contained in the Manuals of Proof and Inspection Procedures for NATO Ammunition. I will write to the hon. Member providing details and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

SA80

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by how much modifications to the SA80 went over the estimated cost.

Adam Ingram: The approved cost limit of the SA80 modification programme is £92 million and spending is still within this level.

Widows

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many pensioners have been affected by the provision in the war widows pension whereby widows whose husbands served before 1970 receive a pension equivalent to 33 per cent. of their husbands' retired pay; and what plans he has to amend the provision.

Lewis Moonie: The rates of war widows' pensions paid under the War Pensions Scheme are not based on the husbands' dates of service or the rate of their retired pay.

Widows

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many widows of post-retirement marriages to ex-servicemen are affected by the rule whereby they are only entitled to payments on service following 1978.

Adam Ingram: There is no requirement for the Ministry of Defence to hold data on post-retirement marriages of pensioners with service before 1978. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Widows

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to review the situation whereby widows of post-retirement marriages to ex-servicemen are only entitled to payments on service following 1978.

Lewis Moonie: The Government have no plans to increase the current armed forces pension scheme provisions for widows of post-retirement marriages. Following long-standing practice, improvements to the armed forces and other public sector pension schemes do not apply retrospectively.

Fylingdales

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what structural and transport improvements have been made to the base at Fylingdales and Menwith Hill since 1997.

Adam Ingram: I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Baltic States

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he last met representatives of the Baltic States to discuss their entry into NATO; and if he will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: I visited Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on 25–27 February 2002 for a series of meetings with fellow Defence Ministers and their colleagues. Our discussions covered a range of issues including NATO enlargement, NATO-Russia relations, and the UK's strong bilateral and multilateral relations with all three Baltic States.

Gibraltar

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions his Department has had with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in relation to supporting and assisting the Government of Gibraltar to celebrate 300 years of British sovereignty in Gibraltar in 2004.

Adam Ingram: None.

Gibraltar

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Department refused permission for use of the Naval Ground in Gibraltar for the demonstration held on 18 March; on what grounds it was refused; and who gave the order that the Naval Ground in Gibraltar could not be used for the demonstration.

Adam Ingram: A request by the Government of Gibraltar (GoG) to use Naval Number One Ground as a car park to assist in the organisation of the GoG sponsored demonstration on 18 March 2002 was made to Commander British Forces Gibraltar on 5 March 2002. This request was agreed. Subsequently GoG sought agreement to change the intended use of the ground from a car park to a public assembly area for the demonstration. Commander British Forces declined this request because of the use of Ministry of Defence facilities for political events is prohibited by Queens Regulations for the armed forces. The offer to use Naval Number One Ground as a car park was reiterated but not taken up.

ESDP

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what 
	(1)  new regulations governing European security and defence policy were agreed at the EU Defence Ministers' meeting in Zaragoza, Spain; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the conclusions reached at the informal EU Defence Ministers' meeting in Zaragoza, Spain; and if he will place a copy of the conclusions reached in the Library.

Geoff Hoon: As this was an informal meeting, intended for the exchange of views on topical subjects, no formal conclusions or decisions were reached.

European Armaments Policy

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts regarding the establishment of a European armaments policy; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The Laeken European Council asked the Spanish presidency to consider
	"measures to enhance co-operation in the field of armaments as member states consider appropriate".
	As a result, EU Defence Ministers discussed armaments issues at their informal meeting in Zaragoza on 22–23 March. However, no decisions have been taken on the establishment of a European armaments policy.

Defence Clothing and Integrated Project Team

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent by the Defence Clothing and Integrated Project Team on outside research and development since the changeover from the Defence Clothing and Textiles Agency.

Adam Ingram: The Defence Clothing Integrated Project Team was formed on 1 April 2001 and has to date spent £0.8 million on outside research and development.

Defence Clothing and Integrated Project Team

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the Research and Project Support Organisation will be incorporated by QinetiQ; and what effect this will have on the Defence Clothing and Integrated Project Team.

Adam Ingram: A number of options have been considered for the future of the Clothing Research and Project Support Organisation. No final decision has yet been taken, but it is unlikely that the activity will transfer to QinetiQ.

Petersberg Tasks

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are to widen the Petersberg tasks missions beyond the original 1992 mission; and if he will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: There are no plans to broaden the scope of the Petersberg Tasks. The Petersberg Tasks are: humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. They were defined at the Western European Union Council of Ministers in Bonn in June 1992 and subsequently adopted by the EU.

Japanese Prisoners of War

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will change his policy on the award of compensation payments to Japanese prisoners of war who were citizens of British colonies; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Reflecting the ex gratia payment scheme that I announced in November 2000, payments to those British groups held as prisoners of war by the Japanese during the Second World War include eligible servicemen who were citizens of British colonies.
	With regard to former civilian internees, the Association of British Civilian Internees Far East Region (ABCIFER) has submitted an application for leave to seek judicial review in respect of certain aspects of the scheme. In the circumstances, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on this issue at present.

Patrols

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of patrols are sent out employing close operation procedures; in what circumstances these procedures are ordered; and in what circumstances members of a patrol would carry live rounds in the barrel of their rifles inside an army barracks.

Adam Ingram: "Close operation procedures" is not a recognised term and I am assuming that my hon. Friend is referring to Close Observation Platoons (COP). The proportion of COP patrols in comparison to other patrols is small and will vary depending on the security situation at any given time and the needs of the police service of Northern Ireland. For obvious security reasons details about their role and specific tasking are classified.
	Rules for carriage of personal weapons are set out clearly in Joint Service Publications and during routine barrack security duties service personnel must always carry their weapon in a safe state with no live round being carried in the breech.

Nuclear Weapons

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the conditions under which Her Majesty's Government have determined it would be legally permissible under (a) treaty obligations and (b) United Nations Security Council resolutions to use United Kingdom nuclear weapons.

Geoff Hoon: The United Kingdom would, in the right conditions, in extreme circumstances of self-defence, be prepared to use nuclear weapons. We would not use our weapons, whether conventional or nuclear, contrary to international law.

Housing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place a copy of the Independent Housing Survey in the Library; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Yes, copies will be placed today.

MOD Personnel

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 167W, if he will list the numbers of MOD personnel located at the same sites.

Adam Ingram: As at 28 February 2002 the number of Ministry of Defence personnel located at the same sites totalled 6,623 as detailed in the table.
	
		
			 Site MOD numbers at each site 
		
		
			 RAF Alconbury/Molesworth/Upwood 286 
			 RAF Croughton/Barford St. John 191 
			 RAF Daws Hill/West Ruislip/Eastcote/USN London 63 
			 RAF Digby 792 
			 RAF Fairford/Welford 239 
			 RAF Feltwell 7 
			 RAF Fylingdales 178 
			 RAF Hythe 13 
			 RAF Lakenheath 612 
			 RAF Menwith Hill 372 
			 RAF Mildenhall 593 
			 Northwood 2,060 
			 RAF Oakhanger 248 
			 RAF St. Mawgan 969

BUTEC and Rona Ranges

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2002, Official Report, column 446W, what his policy is on the inclusion of the BUTEC and Rona ranges within the future provision of the range of test and evaluation facilities; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The BUTEC and Rona ranges are included in the arrangements currently under negotiation with QinetiQ for the delivery of a long-term test and evaluation capability to the Ministry of Defence.

Land Mines

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if she will make a statement on the findings of the report "Explosive Remnants of War" published by Landmine Action.

Adam Ingram: We welcome this report as a broadly useful statement of existing knowledge about the effects of explosive remnants of war. It effectively details the impact of unexploded ordnance on post-conflict communities. We will continue to work positively on new measures that address these humanitarian issues, while also taking into account the need to maintain essential military capability for our forces.

Pensions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many recipients of Army pensions received the pensions through weekly order books (a) in each of the last five years and (b) at the latest available date.

Lewis Moonie: The number of Army pensioners paid via weekly payable order book in each of the last five years was as follows:
	
		
			 As at March of year Number of Army pensioners 
		
		
			 1997 12,000 
			 1998 10,000 
			 1999 8,950 
			 2000 8,050 
			 2001 7,200 
		
	
	As at August 2001, the date of the most recently held statistical data, 6,887 Army pensioners were paid via weekly payable order book. Based on current estimates, this number has reduced further to some 6,050.

Pensions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultation took place before his Department decided to cease to pay pensioners through weekly order books; how many people were affected; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: No formal consultation process took place before taking the decision to cease paying armed forces pensioners via weekly payable order books. The decision affects some 6,700 people (2 per cent. of the total number of armed forces pensioners) who, from April 2002, can opt to have their pension credited to a bank or building society account, or by a voucher sent to their home address encashable through a bank or building society. Under both options, the pensioners will retain the right to receive payment on a weekly basis, and many continue to cash their money at post offices subject to having an account with certain banks.

Strategic Lift Transport Ships

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the dates are for (a) lay-down, (b) launch and (c) delivery of each of the strategic lift transport ships.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 4 March 2002
	Pursuant to the answer I gave on 6 March 2002, Official Report, columns 325–26W, I regret to inform the hon Gentleman that there was an error in the information given. The keel laying date for the sixth vessel, 'Beachy Head', should have read 11 November 2002 and not 31 January 2003 as stated.

Public Funds

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to his Department that have been implemented in each of the last four years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to businesses of each.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence is consulted by other Government Departments on the implementation of various European directives (for example those concerning employment and workers' rights) but is not generally the lead Department dealing with implementation.
	The information is not held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
	The lead Department concerned with implementation would be required to produce a regulatory impact assessment for proposals, including those originating in European legislation, describing whether they have significant cost implications for business, charities or voluntary organisations. Copies of these assessments are placed in the Library of the House.

Redundancies

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff in his Department's press office have received (a) termination and (b) redundancy payments in each of the last four years.

Lewis Moonie: One civilian employee in the central Ministry of Defence press office received termination or redundancy payments in 1998.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Terrorism

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many terrorist-related murders have taken place in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 10 April 1998 for which no person has been convicted; and if he will list each of them.

Jane Kennedy: The information cannot be provided in the format requested. The table provides statistics on the number of terrorist murders in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 10 April 1998.
	
		Terrorist murders in Northern Ireland 1969 to 10 April 1998
		
			 Attribution Number of murders Number where persons were charged Number where persons were not charged 
		
		
			 Loyalist 841 421 420 
			 Republican 1,761 517 1,244 
			  
			 Total 2,602 938 1,664

Terrorism

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many terrorist-related incidents have taken place in Northern Ireland since 1 January.

Jane Kennedy: The information is unable to be provided in the format requested. The table lists shootings and bombing incidents and paramilitary style attacks since 1 January but these cannot be linked to any subsequent charge or conviction.
	
		Security situation statistics: 1 January 2002 to 20 March 2002(2)
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Deaths due to the security situation 3 
			 Shooting incidents 66 
			 Bombing incidents 31 
			 Paramilitary-style assaults 13 
			 Paramilitary-style shootings 50 
		
	
	(2) 2002 statistics are provisional and may be subject to minor amendment
	Shooting incidents
	The following types of shooting incidents are included:
	Shots fired by terrorists
	Shots fired by the security forces
	Paramilitary-style attacks involving shootings
	Shots heard (and later confirmed)
	Other violent incidents where shots are fired (e.g. armed robbery). Bombing incidents
	An individual bombing incident may involve one or more explosive devices. Incidents recorded include explosions and defusings. Incidents involving hoax devices, petrol bombings or incendiaries are excluded.

Stolen Equipment

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the answer of 24 January 2002, Official Report, column 1005W, on stolen equipment, whether the computer equipment stolen from his Department was (a) new and unused and (b) used; and what was the nature of the data stored on such items in each case.

John Reid: All of the stolen equipment referred to in my earlier answer was used. The stolen computers stored minutes of meetings between departmental and public representatives, routine divisional information and data relevant to the Northern Ireland Information Service.

Stolen Equipment

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 24 January 2002, Official Report, column 1005W, on stolen equipment, what criminal proceedings were undertaken for cases of theft against his Department, stating in each case (a) whether the proceedings (i) led to a criminal conviction and (ii) were unsuccessful, (b) the cost incurred by his Department in pursuing a conviction and (c) the value of items recovered; and if he will make a statement.

John Reid: All the incidents referred to in my earlier answer were referred to the police for investigation but none resulted in criminal proceedings nor were any of the items recovered.

Election Expenses

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the returns of election expenses for the 1998 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Des Browne: I have no plans to publish these returns. As required by the Representation of the People Act 1983, as applied through Schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) Order 1998, the Returning Officer published in not less than two newspapers, the time and place where returns and declarations could be inspected in each constituency where the election was held. Those returns and declarations were also kept available, as required, in an appropriate place, for 12 months after being received by the Returning Officer.

British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings of the British/Irish Intergovernmental Conference have taken place since 1 December 1999.

John Reid: The Prime Minister and Taoiseach chaired an inaugural meeting of the conference on 17 December 1999. The conference has not met in formal session since then but Ministers and officials have continued to work with their Irish counterparts on the matters falling within the conference's area of responsibility.

British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings of the British/Irish Intergovernmental Conference since 1 December 1999 have included members of the Northern Ireland Executive Committee.

John Reid: One. The inaugural meeting of the Conference on 17 December 1999 was attended by the Northern Ireland First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

North-South Ministerial Council

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  how many plenary meetings of the North/South Ministerial Council have taken place since 1 December 1999;
	(2)  how many sectoral meetings have taken place between members of the Northern Ireland Executive and Ministers in the Republic of Ireland under the aegis of the North/South Ministerial Council since 1 December 1999.

John Reid: Responsibility for this subject has been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and is therefore no longer a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Departmental IT Systems

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of whether the target of conducting 25 per cent. of departmental dealings electronically will be met in 2002.

John Reid: The progress of the Northern Ireland office towards electronic service delivery targets is kept under regular review. A number of significant developments have taken place particularly in the Northern Ireland Prison Service Agency, the Compensation Agency, and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.

Paramilitary Shootings

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the responsibility for the shooting of (a) a 40-year-old man on waste ground at the back of Bray street, North Belfast on 14 March and (b) a 24-year-old man shot in both legs at the rear of houses at Glenlea Park, Garnerville on 12 March.

Jane Kennedy: Police investigations into the two incidents have established that victim (a) did not co-operate with the police, he did not make a statement and a crime scene could not be established; victim (b) did not make a complaint in respect of the incident. It is believed loyalists were responsible for these attacks but they cannot be attributed to any specific organisation.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he estimates that the Public Service Agreement target for efficiency savings in core departmental administration costs in 2001–02 will be achieved.

John Reid: Yes, it is estimated that the Public Service Agreement targets for efficiency savings in core Department administration costs in 2001–02 will be achieved.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in his Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

John Reid: While an underspend is expected this financial year, provisional figures will not be available until May 2002.

Compensation Agency/ Forensic Science Northern Ireland

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the quinquennial reviews in the (a) Compensation Agency and (b) Forensic Science Northern Ireland have been completed.

John Reid: Stage 1 of both the quinquennial reviews of the Compensation Agency and Forensic Science Northern Ireland have now been completed. The Secretary of State announced his decision to renew the executive agency status of the Compensation Agency to Parliament on 15 November 2001. Stage 2 of the review of the Compensation Agency is under way and a draft report will be delivered before the end of March 2002. The Secretary of State expects to make an announcement to Parliament shortly on the outcome of the review of Forensic Science Northern Ireland. Stage 2 of the review of Forensic Science will then be completed.

Fireworks

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he will take to reduce the import of illegal fireworks into Northern Ireland.

Jane Kennedy: The illegal import of fireworks is one of the areas of concern being addressed as part of the Fireworks Review, which I announced on 12 October 2001. I will be announcing my proposals shortly.

Public Appointments

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many appointments to public bodies have been made through his Department (a) from April 2000 to March 2001 and (b) since 31 March 2001; and how many of these were (i) men and (ii) women.

John Reid: Of 64 appointments (including reappointments) to Northern Ireland Office public bodies in the period 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001, 40 were men and 24 were women. For the period 1 April 2001 to 25 March 2002, 13 new appointments 1 were made; nine were men and four were women.
	1 Figures, which include reappointments, will be available in early summer 2002.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

John Reid: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of staff 
		
		
			 1999 1 
			 2000 1 
			 2001 0

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from the private sector in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

John Reid: None.

Performance Management System

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the improved performance management system referred to on page 64 of the 2001 departmental report took effect from 1 April 2001.

John Reid: Yes. The improved performance management system was brought into effect from 1 April 2001. The process has been streamlined, improved guidance has been issued and new report forms are available for use electronically.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the Police Service of Northern Ireland has obtained exemption from the application of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

Jane Kennedy: The Police Service of Northern Ireland has not obtained exemption from the application of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

Shooting (Westrock Square, Ballymurphy)

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the responsibility for the shooting of a 17-year-old youth at Westrock Square, Ballymurphy on 9 March.

Jane Kennedy: Police inquiries into the above incident have to date proved negative and no information has been received as to the identity of the perpetrators of this shooting.

Banner (Derry City Walls)

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the answer of the right hon. Member for East Kilbride (Mr. Ingram) of 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 656W, 
	(1)  how many individuals can be seen on CCTV video tape delivering and displaying the banner as the Bloody Sunday commemorative march approached the Derry City walls on 27 January; how many of those individuals have been identified; what facilities are available for military police to view video footage; and what further action he plans to take;
	(2)  what type of vehicle was identified on closed circuit television video tape transporting the banner unfurled on Derry City walls on 27 January; what the ownership record of the vehicle is; and what further action he plans to take;
	(3)  what assessment (a) he and (b) the Military Police have made of the origin and age of the banner removed by police from the Derry City walls on 27 January; on what previous occasions has it been publicly displayed in Derry; what the organisation affiliation of those in control of its display was; and at what location it is being stored.

Jane Kennedy: The police operation on the date in question was low-key and discreet as agreed with the march organisers. Police on duty did not witness the alleged display of the banner. CCTV footage over a two-hour period at the material time and location has been examined and discloses no evidence of a banner being transported or displayed. Police did not remove a banner nor do they have the banner in their possession. A report in the Derry Journal of 5 February would suggest that the banner is in the possession of the Bloody Sunday marchers.

Golden Jubilee

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding was offered to the public by the Northern Ireland Office for events linked with Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee celebrations; what the closing date for applications was; where and when adverts were placed publicising this funding; how much funding was provided by his Office; and which organisations and events were successful in their application for funding.

John Reid: The NIO has not offered funding to the public for events linked with the Golden Jubilee. In Northern Ireland, the Golden Jubilee celebrations are being co-ordinated by the Department for Culture Arts and Leisure.

E-business Strategy

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the Department produced a full e-business strategy by June 2001.

John Reid: The Northern Ireland Office produced an initial e-business strategy at the end of 2000 and is reviewing and refining this in the context of the development of an overall information systems strategy to meet departmental business needs.

Age Discrimination

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's policy is towards age discrimination.

John Reid: It is the policy of the Northern Ireland Office that all eligible persons shall have equal opportunity for employment and advancement solely on the basis of their ability, qualifications and aptitude for the work. The Department promotes an equal opportunities policy whereby no employee or job applicant is unfairly discriminated against on a number of grounds, including age. Staff joining the Department receive, as part of their induction, a mandatory half-day equal opportunities awareness session which explains their responsibilities under the policy and addresses negative stereotypical attitudes towards people, including on the basis of age.
	Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 places a statutory duty on public authorities to have due regard to the promotion of equality of opportunity for persons in nine separate categories, one of which is age. In accordance with its commitments under Section 75, the Department has undertaken an extensive screening exercise to examine all its policies against all the categories, including age.

Job Sharing

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the extent of job sharing in his Department.

John Reid: 25 officers out of 1,256 staff employed by the NIO are job sharers.
	Jobsharing however is only one of a number of alternative and flexible working patterns that employees are welcome to take up. In the NIO there are also 116 officers who work part-time. The flexibility of the hours worked is decided in conjunction with local management to suit the individuals need and the needs of the branch.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

John Reid: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's second report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear its commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

LORD CHANCELLOR

Law Commission Reports

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the Law Commission reports and their date of publication in respect of which (a) no Government response has yet been published and (b) no legislation where the need for legislation has been accepted in principle, has been published, in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Wills: Lists for (a) and (b) are set out in the tables. At any one time, the Law Commissioner will be engaged on between 20 and 30 projects of law reform at different stages of completion. In 1999 the Lord Chancellor established a ministerial committee on the work of the Law Commission. Its remit is to develop and co-ordinate the Government's interest in law reform. The committee looks at the effective use of the resource represented by the Law Commission; the process for referring projects to the commission; how the implementation of Law Commission recommendations may be streamlined; and considers what actions might be taken on unimplemented reports. However, it is for individual Departments to decide whether to accept the reports they receive and when to propose legislation.
	
		(a) Law Commission reports awaiting Government response
		
			 Year Number Title 
		
		
			 1991 194 Distress for Rent 
			 1994 222 Binding Over 
			 1994 226 Judicial Review and Statutory Appeals 
			 1995 229 Intoxication and Criminal Liability 
			 1996 238 Landlord and Tenant: Responsibility for State and Condition of Property 
			 1997 246 Shareholder Remedies 
			 1998 249 Liability for Psychiatric Illness 
			 1999 257 Damages for Personal Injury: Non-Pecuniary Loss (Part IV) 
			 1999 261 Company Directors: Regulating Conflicts of Interest and Formulating a Statement of Duties 
			 1999 262 Damages for Personal Injury: Medical, Nursing and Other Expense Collateral Benefits 
			 1999 263 Claims for Wrongful Death 
			 2001 269 Bail and The Human Rights Act 1998 
			 2001 270 Limitations of Actions 
			 2001 272 Third Parties' Rights Against Insurers 
			 2001 273 Evidence of Bad Character in Criminal Proceedings 
		
	
	
		(b) Law Commission Reports awaiting legislation
		
			 Year Number Title 
		
		
			 1992 208 Landlord and Tenant- Business Tenancies: A Periodic Review of The Landlord and Tenant Act 
			 1993 218 Offences Against the Person and General Principles 
			 1995 231 Mental Incapacity 
			 1996 237 Involuntary Manslaughter 
			 1997 245 Hearsay and Related Topics 
			 1997 247 Aggravated, Exemplary and Restitutionary Damages 
			 1998 248 Corruption Offences 
			 1998 251 The Rules Against Perpetuities and Excessive Accumulations 
			 1998 253 The Execution of Deeds and Documents 
			 1998 255 Consents to Prosecution 
			 2001 267 Double Jeopardy and Prosecution Appeals

Equipment Leasing

John Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list the equipment leasing arrangements entered into by her Department in each of the last four years; and what the cost to public funds in each case is.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has entered into a range of equipment leases the majority of which are for photocopiers, hygiene disposal units and laptop computers. The total cost of equipment leases in each of the last three years for which information is readily available was as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 1999–01 1.3 
			 2000–02 2.1 
			 2001–03 (3)1.9 
		
	
	(3) To January 2002.
	The increase in cost from 1999–2000 mainly represents the additional provision of laptop computers to the judiciary.

Crown Courts

George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to change the number of Crown courts.

Michael Wills: Public consultation on a proposal to close the satellite Crown court at Knutsford and move hearings to Chester is due to commence today. There are currently no plans to change the number of Crown courts or their satellite offices in England and Wales.

Crown Courts

George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases were tried at Knutsford Crown court in each of the last 20 years.

Michael Wills: I list below the number of trials disposed of in each of the last 16 years at Knutsford Crown court. The figures for the previous four years are not available.
	
		Trials disposed of at Knutsford Crown court
		
			  Total trials disposed of 
		
		
			 1986 50 
			 1987 68 
			 1988 100 
			 1989 108 
			 1990 92 
			 1991 44 
			 1992 22 
			 1993 50 
			 1994 56 
			 1995 59 
			 1996 54 
			 1997 86 
			 1998 91 
			 1999 82 
			 2000 98 
			 2001 108

Crown Courts

George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the future of the Crown court at Knutsford.

Michael Wills: Public consultation on a proposal to close the satellite Crown court at Knutsford is due to commence today. Results of the consultation will be submitted to the Lord Chancellor who must approve any court closure.

Crown Courts

George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many Crown courts there were in England in each of the last 20 years.

Michael Wills: I list below the number of Crown court centres, including their satellite offices, for each of the last 16 years. The figures for the previous four years are not recorded.
	
		Crown court centres and satellite offices
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1986 85 
			 1987 85 
			 1988 87 
			 1989 87 
			 1990 88 
			 1991 88 
			 1992 93 
			 1993 92 
			 1994 90 
			 1995 90 
			 1996 92 
			 1997 92 
			 1998 92 
			 1999 92 
			 2000 92 
			 2001 92

Census 1901

David Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to her answer of 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 414W, on the 1901 Census, what steps were taken to familiarise employees based in India and Sri Lanka with the handwriting and spelling used by enumerators of the 1901 Census.

Rosie Winterton: The data input company based in India and Sri Lanka demonstrated that it already had in-house skills at interpreting late nineteenth century handwriting by producing test results of a very high level of accuracy prior to award of contract. In order to augment these skills, 10 Public Record Office staff with expertise in interpreting census enumeration returns spent, between them, 20 weeks at the company's bases in India and Sri Lanka. They gave training sessions on the detailed transcription rules, on the formation of the handwriting to be found in the returns and on the etymology of Welsh place names. They also responded to queries raised by individual operators while they were transcribing the returns.
	Public Record Office staff ensured that keying operators had access to appropriate reference sources such as English and Welsh gazetteers and name listings. They also provided supervisors with detailed feedback on errors encountered during the quality assessment of the transcribed data to seek to prevent such errors reoccurring.
	The transcription rule for most of the data found in the 1901 census returns was to transcribe it exactly as it appeared. As a result, there was no requirement to translate 1901 spelling to its modern day equivalent.

Staff Numbers

John Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff have been employed by her Department in each of the last 10 years.

Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 295W.

Judiciary

David Cameron: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many acting members of the judiciary also practise as solicitors; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Wills: The number of members of the part-time judiciary in the courts and tribunals who are solicitors is 2,019. The Lord Chancellor encourages and welcomes applications for judicial office from solicitors and considers that they perform an important and vital function as part-time judges.

Judiciary

David Cameron: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in what circumstances he is able to exercise his power to investigate the personal conduct of members of the judiciary.

Michael Wills: As Head of the Judiciary the Lord Chancellor is able to consider and investigate complaints about the personal conduct of individual judges and other judicial office holders.
	It is not open to the Lord Chancellor to comment on, or to intervene in relation to, complaints received about decisions made by a judge or any steps in the process of reasoning underlying his or her decision, or other matters involving the exercise of judicial functions.
	The criteria for investigating complaints about personal conduct of members of the judiciary are set down in procedures drawn up in 1998. The system for investigating complaints has developed over the last four years and the procedures are now being revised to take these developments into account. Details will be made available to the public once the revised procedures have been finalised.

Birth Certificates (Transsexuals)

Anne Begg: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans she has to allow transsexual people to change their birth certificates.

Rosie Winterton: Issues of concern to transsexual people (such as the replacement of birth certificates) affect the policy responsibilities of a number of Government Departments and were considered by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People. The Government are sympathetic to the issues raised in the report and is actively considering how to take the matter forward.

Legal Aid Certificates

Frank Field: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list for each financial year since April 2000 the savings accruing from the abolition of the issuing of legal aid certificates for cases involving personal injury or disease.

Rosie Winterton: We estimate the net savings to legal aid in 2000–01 were £32 million. Figures for 2001–02 are not yet available. Expenditure on personal injury cases fell substantially in the years prior to 2000–01, following the introduction of conditional fees.

Investigative Support Certificates

Paul Holmes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many investigative support certificates have been granted for investigative support funding since May 1999.

Rosie Winterton: Investigative support funding became available from April 2000 with the implementation of the Legal Services Commission's Funding Code. In the financial year 2000–01, 25 certificates were issued for investigative support funding. In the current financial year, to the end of February 2002, 31 certificates have been issued.

Litigations Support Certificates

Paul Holmes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many litigations support certificates have been granted for litigations support funding since May 1999.

Rosie Winterton: Litigation support funding became available from April 2000 with the implementation of the Legal Services Commission's Funding Code. In the financial year 2000–01, two certificates were issued for litigation support funding. In the current financial year, to the end of February 2002, no certificates have been issued.

Ministerial Meetings

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he last met the President of the Law Society and the Chairman of the Bar.

Michael Wills: My right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor, my ministerial colleagues and I have all met with the Chairman of the Bar and the President of the Law Society. The dates are provided in the table.
	
		
			 Minister Chairman of the Bar President of the Law Society 
		
		
			 Lord Chancellor 22 January 2002 17 September 2001 
			 Baroness Scotland 26 July 2001 25 July 2001 
			 Michael Wills MP 10 October 2001 29 October 2001 
			 Rosie Winterton MP 24 September 2001 7 March 2002

Courthouse Closures

Robert Key: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the objectors who have appealed against the proposals of the Wiltshire Magistrates Court Committee to close courthouses in Devizes and Trowbridge and build a new courthouse in Salisbury.

Michael Wills: I have received three representations against the proposals, including the Wiltshire county council's appeal. The two remaining representations are from the Wiltshire police authority and the Melksham without parish council. I understand from the Justices' Chief Executive for the Wiltshire Magistrates Courts Committee (MCC), that the MCC has received approximately 140 representations from local Members, authorities, justices of the peace and other interested parties, against the MCC's proposals to close courthouses in Devizes and Trowbridge and build a new courthouse in Salisbury. Although the majority of representations oppose the proposals, there are some letters of support.
	Under section 56(3) of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997 only the paying authority (the local authority that contributes financially) that is aggrieved by the determination of a Magistrates Courts Committee to close a courthouse has the right to appeal to the Lord Chancellor, within one month of receipt of written notification of the determination. The Wiltshire county council has exercised its right in this case. Once an appeal has been filed, I carefully consider all representations received before making a decision.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

IT Contracts

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what has been the total expenditure of his Department on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date; how many IT contracts have been let in each of those years; of the other main contracting party in each of those contracts, how many have been (a) companies whose registered office is in (i) England and Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland and (b) foreign companies; and what are the names of the companies falling within category (a).

Christopher Leslie: The total expenditure by the Cabinet Office, its agency and the Central Office of Information on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date is shown in the table.
	
		
			  £000 
		
		
			 1997–98 11,842 
			 1998–99 13,137 
			 1999–2000 (4)17,247 
			 2000–01 (4),(5)55,229 
			 2001–02 (5),(6)48,462 
		
	
	(4) The figures for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 include expenditure on: the development of Penserver pensions awarding software; and Y2k work.
	(5) The figures for 2000–01 and 2001–02 include expenditure on: the upgrading of Central Office of Information's IT systems, networks and infrastructures and the introduction of electronic document managements systems for the Office; the development and live running of the Government Gateway, UK online and the Knowledge Network; IT systems and support by the Government Offices in the Regions, Emergency Planning and other function transferring to the Cabinet Office after the 2001 election; and the extension of the scope of services covered by the Cabinet Office's contract for domestic IT services.
	(6) 2001–02 figure is to end of February and is subject to audit.
	The number of contracts let and the locations of the main contracting companies are not held centrally and are available only at disproportionate cost.

Sustainable Development

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he will be seeking representations on the link between biodiversity and poverty in his capacity as chair of the cross-Government ministerial committee preparing the UK position at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

John Prescott: The eradication of poverty will be a key focus for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. As the summit approaches the Government are consulting widely on how to ensure that the goal of poverty alleviation is integrated into the emerging agenda. The 2001 DFID publication 'Biodiversity: a crucial issue for the world's poorest' elucidates the links between poverty and biodiversity and sets out the Government's approach to this subject. This is available on the DFID website at www.dfid.gov.uk.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

John Prescott: Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2001, Special Advisers in the Cabinet Office travelled abroad on eight occasions, at an average cost of £1,706.46 per trip. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2000 is already in the public domain. All travel by Special Advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code, and the Civil Service Management Code.
	Special Advisers visited Sweden, the United States of America, Colombia, France, Spain, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
	Details of Special Adviser travel for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years;
	(2)  if he will list for each of the last five years the total amount of money spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes.

Christopher Leslie: Information is not held in the form requested and is available only at disproportionate cost.

British/Irish Council

Quentin Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what common policies and actions have been agreed between the British and Irish Governments and representatives of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as a result of meetings of the British/Irish Council since 1 December 1999; and what progress has been made in implementing them.

John Prescott: The British-Irish Council will exchange information, discuss, consult and use best endeavours to reach agreement on cooperation on matters of mutual interest within the competence of the relevant Administrations.
	At its first summit on 17 December 1999 the British-Irish Council identified the following areas for early discussion: drugs, the environment, transport, social inclusion, the knowledge economy, tele-medicine and tourism. Work is on-going in all sectoral areas.
	In the environment sector for example, in which the UK Government take the lead, work has been taken forward on the impacts of climate change. In particular, new scenarios of climate change are planned that will be tailored to meet the particular needs of some British-Irish Council administrations.
	In the drugs sector, work to date has focused on the exchange of information, sharing of best practice and identifying suitable areas for practical co-operation.
	I have placed in the Libraries of the House copies of the communiqués from the two most recent ministerial meetings on the environment and drugs.

British/Irish Council

Quentin Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many sectoral meetings of the British/Irish Council have taken place since 1 December 1999; and what plans there are for further such meetings.

John Prescott: The following British-Irish Council sectoral meetings have taken place at ministerial level since 1 December 1999:
	2 October 2000—ministerial meeting on the environment, London
	19 December 2000-ministerial meeting on transport, Belfast
	25 February 2002—ministerial meeting on the environment, Edinburgh
	22 March 2002—ministerial meeting on drugs, Dublin.
	There have also been meetings of officials on the following occasions since 1 December 1999:
	6 October 2000—officials meeting on drugs, Dublin
	16 November 2000—officials meeting on social inclusion, London
	16 November 2000—officials meeting on the knowledge economy, London
	4 December 2000—officials meeting on transport, Belfast
	23 January 2001—officials meeting on the environment, London
	28–29 March 2001—officials meeting on the environment, Oxford
	29 March 2001—officials meeting on the knowledge economy, Jersey
	13 September 2001—officials meeting on drugs, Dublin
	25 January 2002—officials meeting on drugs, Dublin
	4 February 2002—officials meeting on social inclusion, London
	5 February 2002—officials meeting on the knowledge economy, London
	7 February 2002—officials meeting on the environment, London
	26 February 2002—officials meeting on tele-medicine, Isle of Man
	1 March 2002—officials meeting on tourism, Guernsey
	6 March 2002—officials meeting on drugs, Dublin.
	Further meetings will take place at ministerial and official level as appropriate. These are likely to include a ministerial meeting on the environment in the autumn and a ministerial meeting on drugs in early 2003.

British/Irish Council

Quentin Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many meetings of the British/Irish Council have taken place at summit level since 1 December 1999; and what plans there are for further meetings at summit level.

John Prescott: There have been two British-Irish Council summit meetings since 1 December. Further summit meetings are planned in June 2002 in Jersey where the main topic of discussion will be the knowledge economy, autumn 2002 in Scotland and early 2003 in Northern Ireland.

Government Offices for the Region

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement about the costs of the Government offices for the regions.

Barbara Roche: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on the 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 780W.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which public service agreement targets scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date.

Christopher Leslie: All targets scheduled for completion in 2002 are on course. Progress on/against PSA targets will be reported and published in the Cabinet Office's annual departmental report for 2002.

Correspondence

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the target time will be in 2002–03 for (a) ministers to reply to letters from hon. Members and (b) officials in his Department to reply to letters received directly from members of the public.

John Prescott: The target time set in the Cabinet Office for 2002–03 for ministers to reply to letters received from hon. members has been set at 91 per cent. of replies within 15 working days. The Cabinet Office also aims to clear correspondence received directly from members of the public within 15 working days.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Christopher Leslie: The Cabinet Office deploys a range of security measures to protect property from theft or damage. This includes access control, CCTV monitoring, guarding personnel, routine security checks, supply of secure furniture and the provision of advice and guidance to staff.
	In response to any thefts or damage to property, an investigation is carried out and any recommended new measures are implemented locally.
	At the strategic level, my Department is working towards compliance with British Standard 7799: Information Security Management. This work includes revision of departmental security policies, a new security training and awareness programme, improved data collection and trend analysis and a new team and structure for managing the Department's security needs.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Christopher Leslie: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear its commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to Parliamentary Questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in his Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

John Prescott: The estimated capital and revenue outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget Report on 17 April.

Part-time Employees

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are part-time employees.

Christopher Leslie: The figures are in table form, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. They show the total number of staff in each department/agency reported to the Cabinet Office at 1 October 2001. The figures include submissions from all departments and agencies.
	The figures were published in the Press Notice about Civil Service staffing levels, released on 21 February 2002, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
	The figures are shown on a headcount basis, and are rounded to the nearest 10. The part-time percentage figures are calculated by taking the part-time staff as a percentage of the total staff, rounded to the nearest 0.1 per cent.

Pensions

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make pensions available to those who serve on non-departmental public bodies; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Leslie: Those who are appointed to serve on the boards of non-departmental public bodies may be provided with a pension at the discretion of the sponsoring department in consultation with the Treasury. The usual requirement is that to be eligible for a pension, board members should be paid for at least two days' work a week and have executive responsibilities.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase by March from 93 per cent. to 100 per cent. the proportion of prosecution witness expenses sent no later than 10 working days from receipt of a correctly completed claim form will be met.

Harriet Harman: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Under- Secretary of State, Cabinet Office.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Nuclear Materials (Former Soviet Union)

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress on the UK's contribution to the clear up of nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union.

Brian Wilson: I have been asked to reply.
	Since the start of the UK Government's new £84 million programme to help address the nuclear legacy in the former Soviet Union in April 2001, we have taken forward a number of initiatives recognised as priority areas for the programme. These include:
	Spending some £16 million on projects during 2001–02 including part of the UK's contribution to the Chernobyl Shelter fund;
	Continuing the dialogue with our G8 partners regarding the disposition of at least 34 tonnes of Russian weapons grade plutonium declared surplus for defence requirements;
	Identifying and negotiating a portfolio of bilateral and multilateral project proposals for UK support focused on NW Russia associated with spent nuclear fuel and decommissioned nuclear submarines;
	Negotiating a legal framework agreement with Russia to cover liabilities, site access and tax issues etc. associated with UK funded projects (completion of this agreement is expected this spring);
	Developing co-ordinated strategies for future work to prevent the transfer of nuclear weapons expertise in Russia to countries of proliferation concern (focus on closed cities in Russia) and addressing social impact issues associated with nuclear power plant closure;
	Developing a strategy for the provision of UK assistance to the Kazak Government in the safe and irreversible shutdown of the fast breeder reactor in Aktau;
	Initiated 34 projects worth some £2.5 million in eight beneficiary countries, to enhance power plant nuclear safety;
	Contributed some £2.9 million to aid the closer of Chernobyl type reactors in EU accession candidate countries (e.g. Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia).
	Once the UK/Russia legal framework agreement is completed, we expect to be able to move very quickly to start a number of projects for which negotiations have been taking place with Russia and other donor countries over the past few months. We are also nearing the completion of recruiting external project managers to help us manage and drive forward these projects. The expenditure profile is expected to rise significantly once these projects get under way. The Department will be publishing an annual report on progress in taking forward the programme together with a range of publications on active and completed projects. Both the annual report and project information will be available from the DTI website and in hard copy form later this spring. Copies of all publications will be sent to the Libraries of the House.

Kassam 2 Rocket

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his assessment is of the Tanzim organisation's assistance in the production of the Kassam 2 rocket.

Ben Bradshaw: HMG have no evidence to suggest that Tanzim has been involved in the manufacture of the Kassam 2 rocket.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 15 March 2002, Official Report, column 1293W, what consideration has been given to having the trial of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh held in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: None. Any possible trial in the UK would be a matter for the UK prosecuting authorities.

Human Rights Act

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many cases have been brought against his Department under the Human Rights Act 1998; and what has been the cost in (a) legal fees to defend cases and (b) compensation payments.

Ben Bradshaw: We do not collect central records of all cases in which the Human Rights Act 1998 is relied on. Human rights are now integrated in the general law and are rarely the sole basis for a challenge. We do monitor centrally those cases which we consider may be of particular significance to this Department. We have recorded five cases to date.
	We do not collect separate information centrally about the costs to public funds, legal fees or compensation payments in cases which include a human rights issue. In most cases it will be difficult to single out associated costs relating to the human rights element.

GCHQ

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many US National Security Agency personnel are at GCHQ; and what the rank is of the most senior of them.

Jack Straw: It is long-standing Government policy not to comment on details of the staffing of the security and intelligence services. However, I can confirm that there are a number of NSA personnel at GCHQ in a variety of roles. The most senior is the Special US Liaison Officer, a former deputy director at NSA.

Lord Levy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost has been in each month since January 1999 arising from the activities of Lord Levy, broken down by (a) reimbursed travelling costs, (b) reimbursed other costs, (c) support costs in the UK, (d) support costs incurred at UK embassies and (e) other costs; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Lord Levy receives no remuneration and travels at his own expense. The FCO provides him with logistic and administrative support, including use of an office in London, and official accommodation overseas, the cost of which is not separately itemised.

EU Membership

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met the Governments of (a) Hungary, (b) Czech Republic, (c) Slovenia and (d) Croatia; and if their application for membership of the EU was discussed.

Peter Hain: The Secretary of State met the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Dr. Janos Martonyi, on 1 and on 15 November 2001. He met the Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan in London on 25 January 2002, and Slovenian President Kucan and the Slovenian Minister of Economy Dr. Tea Petrin in December 2001. The Secretary of State also met Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula in December 2001. EU enlargement was discussed at each meeting. The Secretary of State will be visiting Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on 22–23 April where their applications to join the EU will be discussed.

Future of Europe

Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is intended that the votes taken at the proceedings of the European Convention on the Future of Europe will be recorded.

Peter Hain: The Convention's Rules of Procedure stipulate that:
	"The recommendations of the Convention shall be adopted by consensus . . . When the deliberations of the Convention result in several different options, the support obtained by each option may be indicated."
	They make no provision for voting to take place. The Convention is committed to making its proceedings transparent. Plenary sessions are open to the public. The Convention website (http://european-convention.eu.int) contains records of these sessions, including video updates, details of its future work programme, and all documents submitted in the course of its work.

European Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to his Department that have been implemented in each of the last four years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to businesses of each.

Peter Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office plays a co-ordinating role in UK EU policy. As such the Foreign and Commonwealth Office rarely leads on implementation of directives and regulations.
	(a) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office lead on Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
	This regulation consolidates the initiatives that the institutions have already taken with a view to improving the transparency of the decision-making process. The purpose of the regulation is to give the fullest possible effect to the right of public access to documents and to lay down the general principles and limits on such access in accordance with Article 255(2) of the EC treaty.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also lead on the implementation of the following legislation where it is applicable to fishing activities in the Antarctic:
	Council Regulation (EC) No 1035/2001 of 22 May 2001 establishing a catch documentation scheme for Dissostichus spp. (Patagonian toothfish and Giant Antarctic Cod).
	Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 of 15 December 2000 fixing for 2001 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where limitations in catch are required.
	Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 of 29 June 2000 establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the common fisheries policy.
	Council Regulation (EC) No 2742/1999 of 17 December 1999 fixing for 2000 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where the limitations in catch are required and amending Regulation (EC) No 66/98.
	Council Regulation (EC) No 1721/1999 of 29 July 1999 laying down certain control measures in respect of vessels flying the flag of Non-Contracting Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
	Council Regulation (EC) No 2479/98 of 12 November 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 66/98 laying down certain conservation and control measures applicable to fishing activities in the Antarctic.
	Council Regulation (EC) No 66/98 of 18 December 1997 laying down certain conservation and control measures applicable to fishing activities in the Antarctic and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2113/96.
	(b) We do not hold information in the form requested. The information could be assembled only at a disproportionate cost.
	(c) Departments are required to produce Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) for proposals, including those originating in European legislation, likely to impose significant costs on business, charities or voluntary organisations. The above legislation was not considered to have a significant cost to business.

Peru

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the bomb which exploded recently in Lima, Peru.

Denis MacShane: We strongly condemn the car bomb attack carried out in Lima on 20 March and the resultant tragic loss of life.

Gibraltar

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment the Government have made of the level of border delays experienced by the people of Gibraltar.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the previous answer I gave him on 3 April (UIN 45472).
	The Spanish Government opened a second channel on 21 March for vehicles exiting Gibraltar to Spain. Delays exiting Gibraltar have been significantly reduced. We are monitoring the situation carefully and are in close touch with the Spanish Government and Gibraltar authorities.

Gibraltar

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the funds for Gibraltar agreed to by the European Union at the European Council meeting at Barcelona will be available if the people of Gibraltar reject joint British and Spanish proposals put to them on their future.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Mr. Hawkins) on 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 614W.

Gibraltar

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions the Government have had concerning Gibraltar with fellow member states of the European Union; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Belfast, North (Mr. Dodds) on 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 389W. It is for the European Commission to consider how best to carry forward its remit from the European Council.

Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to visit Gibraltar.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the reply from my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack) on 14 January 2002, Official Report, column 29.

Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to refer the question of Gibraltar's constitutional standing to the International Court of Justice.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 10 December 2001, Official Report, column 632W.

Gibraltar

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support and assistance his Department is providing to the Government of Gibraltar with their plans to celebrate 300 years of British sovereignty of Gibraltar in 2004.

Peter Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middleton (Jim Dobbin) on 31 January 2002, Official Report, column 494W.

Gibraltar

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has given details to the Government of Gibraltar of the proposals which are being considered for agreement with his Spanish counterpart regarding the future status of Gibraltar; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I met the Chief Minister of Gibraltar in London on 25 January and had detailed discussions on Gibraltar's future and the Brussels process and offered to keep the Chief Minister fully informed.
	At the most recent Brussels process meeting in London on 4 February my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and the Spanish Foreign Minister reiterated their invitation to the Chief Minister of Gibraltar to participate in future Brussels process meetings on the basis of the Two Flags, Three Voices formula, having his own and distinct voice as part of the British delegation.

Chechnya

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations have been made to the Government of Russia concerning the abuses of human rights in Chechnya; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last raised the human rights situation in Chechnya with Foreign Minister Ivanov in March 2002, during the latter's visit to the UK. He also discussed Chechnya with the Russian Defence Minister in December 2001.

Ilois People

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to receive the constitutional report on the return of the Ilois people to the Chagos Islands.

Ben Bradshaw: There is no constitutional report on the return of the Ilois to the Chagos Islands. The results of Phase 2B of the feasibility studies, which will provide detailed assessments of groundwater, soils, fisheries resources and the marine and terrestrial environment, are expected to be available by mid 2002.

Ilois People

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to introduce an order to put into effect the provisions of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 in respect of the Ilois people.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement that I gave in the House on 13 February during the debate on the Remaining Stages of the Overseas Territories Bill. As stated then, the Nationality Provisions of this Act will become law for the people of all British Overseas Territories, except Cyprus SBAs, on a date of commencement decided by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. This date will be no later than 21 May 2002.

Ilois People

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans have been made for the Ilois people to visit the Chagos Islands.

Ben Bradshaw: We have given an undertaking to consider, without commitment, facilitating a visit to some outer islands of the territory. We are making inquiries about the practicalities of this with a private shipping company.

India

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the India-UK Round Table's contribution to furthering the countries' partnership in education and science and technology.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor) on 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 865W.

Sudan

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings Ministers in his Department held during March with representatives of the Government of the Sudan.

Denis MacShane: My noble Friend Baroness Amos, Minister responsible for Africa, held a meeting with the Sudanese Ambassador on 11 March, during which she raised our concern about bombing of civilian targets. The UK Special Representative, Alan Goulty, represented Ministers during his trip to the Sudan, Kenya and Kampala, from 17 to 21 March. Mr. Goulty held substantive discussions about the peace process with a range of representatives of the Sudanese Government, including President Bashir.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the number of (a) girls and (b) boys who entered primary school in Afghanistan at the start of the new school year on 22 March.

Ben Bradshaw: UNICEF estimate approximately 1.8 million children to have attended primary schools across Afghanistan on 23 March—the first day of the new school year. Statistics are not yet available on the breakdown of boys and girls who attended. The Afghan Interim Administration, with assistance from UNICEF and other agencies, are actively collating this information.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure widows in Afghanistan have equal rights to participate in the Loya Jirga being convened in Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN.

Ben Bradshaw: We will continue to urge the Special Commission for Convening the Loya Jirga to ensure that women, including widows, are able to participate in the Emergency Loya Jirga process.
	On 31 March, the Special Commission for Convening the Emergency Loya Jirga announced the procedures and criteria for selection of delegates for the Emergency Loya Jirga. These include a quota of 165 seats reserved for women. In addition to these reserved seats, women will also be entitled to stand in the regional ballot, to contest the seats reserved for refugees, nomads, business people, intellectuals, religious scholars and minorities.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many women participants in the Loya Jirga will be accommodated.

Ben Bradshaw: On 31 March, the Special Commission for Convening the Emergency Loya Jirga announced the procedures and criteria for selection of delegates for the Emergency Loya Jirga. These include a quota of 165 seats reserved for women. In addition to these reserved seats, women will also be entitled to stand in the regional ballot to contest the seats reserved for refugees, nomads, business people, intellectuals, religious scholars and minorities.
	The Special Commission are working with the UN on the logistical arrangements for the Emergency Loya Jirga. We will continue to urge them to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place for the provision of accommodation for all delegates from outside Kabul, including women.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the call from Afghanistan's Minister for Women's Affairs for 25 per cent. female representation on the Loya Jirga being organised under the auspices of the UN.

Ben Bradshaw: We hope that the views of women will be well represented at the Emergency Loya Jirga.
	We welcome the announcement by the Special Commission for Convening the Emergency Loya Jirga on 31 March on the procedures and criteria for the selection of delegates for the Emergency Loya Jirga (ELJ). These include a quota of 165 seats reserved for women. This represents approximately 11 per cent. of the total delegate in the ELJ. This is the highest proportion of women included in any Loya Jirga in Afghan history, and as such is an important first step to ensuring that the views of women will be represented. However, in addition to these reserved seats, women will also be entitled to stand in the regional ballot and to contest the seats reserved for refugees, nomads, business people, intellectuals, religious scholars and minorities.
	We will continue to urge the Special Commission for Convening the Emergency Loya Jirga actively to encourage more Afghan women to participate in the political process.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provisions will be made to enable women to travel in safety to the Loya Jirga in Afghanistan.

Ben Bradshaw: The security arrangements for the Emergency Loya Jirga are currently under consideration by the Special Commission for Convening the Emergency Loya Jirga and the UN. We shall continue to encourage them to enable all participants, including women, to travel in safety to the Emergency Loya Jirga.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Afghans will need an identity card to participate in the Loya Jirga.

Ben Bradshaw: On 31 March the Special Commission for the Convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga announced the procedures and criteria for the selection of delegates for the Emergency Loya Jirga. These did not include reference to an ID card.

Mr. Ian Stillman

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he has taken in respect of the case of Mr. Ian Stillman following his imprisonment in India.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised our concerns about Mr. Stillman's welfare, and our hope that his appeal to the High Court would be heard swiftly, with the Indian High Commissioner and Prime Minister Vajpayee's Principal Secretary, Brajesh Mishra, on 26 June 2001. The Foreign Secretary wrote to the High Commissioner on 28 June 2001 highlighting our concerns. He also raised Mr. Stillman's case with the Indian Home Minister, L. K. Advani, on 23 July 2001 and 27 February 2002. On the latter occasion he asked that Mr. Stillman's forthcoming appeal to the Supreme Court be heard as quickly as possible.
	In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister raised Mr. Stillman's case with the Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, and Mr. Mishra on 4 July 2001. I raised it with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah, on 18 February 2002.
	Our High Commission in New Delhi continues to do all it can to ensure that the Indian authorities are meeting Mr. Stillman's welfare requirements.

Mr. Ian Stillman

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the planned visit of 19 March by consular staff in India to Mr. Ian Stillman took place; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Consular staff were unable to visit Ian Stillman on 19 March 2002 but saw him on 21 March 2002 at a hospital in Chandigarh where he was receiving a medical check-up by doctors. Two consular officials spent just under two hours with Mr. Stillman and his son.
	Mr. Stillman discussed with consular staff certain issues relating to his medical condition and asked whether they would raise these with the Superintendent of Kanda Prison. This was done on 22 March. The Superintendent agreed to all of Mr. Stillman's requests.
	Our High Commission in New Delhi will continue to do all it can to ensure that the Indian authorities are meeting Mr. Stillman's welfare requirements.

Television Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by his Department.

Denis MacShane: This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Television Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by his Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose.

Denis MacShane: This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Legal Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what legal costs have been incurred by his Department in each of the last four years.

Denis MacShane: The cost of legal advice and representation incurred externally to the department is
	£54,667.70 for the financial year 1998 to 1999
	£50,963.21 for the financial year 1999 to 2000
	£117,117.11 for the financial year 2000 to 2001.

Gender Strategy

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's gender strategy is.

Ben Bradshaw: The FCO's gender strategy is part of a wider Diversity strategy. This was first put in place in March 1999 and updated in January 2002.
	Our diversity mission is to create and sustain a culture that values and actively supports and promotes diversity. We are currently focused on retention and work/life balance issues, including flexible working. But our gender activity is continually evolving to meet new challenges.
	A copy of our Diversity Strategy will be sent to the hon. Member and placed in the Library of the House.

Relocation

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to relocate executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies under the remit of his Department to Scotland.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary currently has no plans to relocate to Scotland any of the non-departmental public bodies or one executive agency currently under his remit.
	The British Council in Scotland already has a headquarters in Edinburgh and offices in Glasgow and Aberdeen. In April 2003, twenty posts from the Education and Training Department of the British Council in England will be moved to Edinburgh.
	The Britain Russia Centre has its main office in England, but also has a small office in Scotland.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether the target to release £790 million from overseas estate rationalisation for new investment over the three years to March will be met.

Denis MacShane: We await final figures, but believe that the £90 million estate sales target for the triennium FY 1999–2000 to FY 2001–02 will have been achieved.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether the target of 25 per cent. of business undertaken electronically by 2002 will be met.

Denis MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 44W.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Denis MacShane: Information on progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 departmental report.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether the target to halve accommodation running costs in London by 2001–02 will be met.

Denis MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 46W.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether the target of efficiency gains of £7 million by the end of 2001–02 will be met.

Denis MacShane: I am unable to confirm the exact figure for efficiency savings before our accounts for 2001–02 are finalised later in the year. Our present assessment continues to show that we are on target to achieve efficiency gains of approximately £7 million.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether the target of £12 million savings by 2001–02 through improved procurement procedures will be met.

Denis MacShane: Savings of £10.3 million had been achieved by 31 December 2001.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of performance against the target of full cost recovery by the Government Hospitality Fund.

Denis MacShane: The Government Hospitality Fund has been dissolved and the equivalent budget is now held by Conference and Visits Group (CVG), a new business unit that forms part of FCO Services. Full cost recovery in this area is likely to be achieved during the 2002–03 financial year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the target of 60 per cent. on internal departmental services to be reviewed under Better Quality Services guidelines by the end of 2001–02 will be met.

Denis MacShane: The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster informed Departments on 6 February that he had decided to discontinue the Better Quality Services (BQS) scheme.
	Three BQS reviews originally scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2002 are still in progress: Security, Consular Services and Training. These will continue and are all expected to be completed this summer. The reviews of Security and Consular Services were both seriously delayed by the events of 11 September and their aftermath.
	The FCO is currently considering how best to conduct internal reviews of effectiveness in future, to provide assurance that high standards of performance, particularly in areas of customer focus and service delivery are achieved and maintained.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the level of sickness absence in 2000–01; and if he expects the target of a 30 per cent. reduction by 2003 to be met.

Ben Bradshaw: FCO staff took an average of 5.9 days of sickness absence in 2000–01. Early indications are that we are on course to meet the target of a 30 per cent. reduction by 2003.

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people have been employed by his Department in each of the last three years under (a) the New Deal for Young People, (b) the New Deal for the Over 50s and (c) the New Deal for Lone Parents; and at what cost, listed by category, to public funds.

Ben Bradshaw: The information is as follows:
	(a) 11, (b) nil and (c) nil.
	New Deal recruits take up existing vacancies so extra costs to public funds are limited to the subsidy, where appropriate, and any additional training and development which may be needed. The cost of the latter cannot be readily identified.

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people employed by his Department under the New Deal for Young People in each of the last four years have subsequently (a) found unsubsidised employment for more than 13 weeks and (b) returned to jobseeker's allowance or other benefits.

Ben Bradshaw: The information is as follows:
	(a) Four, and (b) the FCO does not monitor this information.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Ben Bradshaw: Secondment refers to all continuous interchange activity of three months or more.
	In line with the annual statistical exercise carried out by the Cabinet Office, the number of staff employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on secondment from non-governmental organisations is broken down by financial year (1 April to 31 March) as follows:
	FY 1999–2000 = 2
	FY 2000–01 = 5
	FY 2001–02 = 3.
	If a period of secondment covers more than one financial year, it is counted in each financial year.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from the private sector in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Denis MacShane: The figures (collated by financial year) for private sector secondments to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are as follows:
	1999–2000: 17
	2000–01: 7
	Current FY: 10.

Special Advisers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number and expected cost to his Department of special advisers in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

Ben Bradshaw: As at 13 March 2002, there were two special advisers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
	The Prime Minister has announced the introduction of a revised pay system for special advisers based on individual job evaluation. The process of evaluation is currently under way and the cost will be provided once the process is completed.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by him and his predecessor since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 25 March. 2002
	Dr. David Mathieson was appointed in line with the requirements of paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code as unpaid adviser to the then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, from May 1997 to June 2001. He was an adviser with special responsibilities for media matters involving party political matters. The current Foreign Secretary has appointed no unpaid adviser.

Press and Public Relations

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people were employed in a press or public relations function in his Department on 1 January in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000, (e) 2001 and (f) 2002.

Ben Bradshaw: The numbers of staff employed in this function in London are:
	Information Department (renamed—Public Diplomacy Department)
	1997 = 78.00
	1998 = 79.00
	1999 = 79.00
	2000 = 79.00
	2001 = 79.00
	2002 = 49.50
	News Department
	1997 = 11.50
	1998 = 15.50
	1999 = 17.50
	2000 = 17.70
	2001 = 19.00
	2002 = 25.00.
	In addition, there are currently 144 UK based staff and 144.41 locally engaged staff who spend 50 to 100 per cent. of their time covering this function in FCO posts abroad. The figures for previous years are not available without incurring disproportionate costs.

Press and Public Relations

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many press releases were issued by his Department (a) between 1 May and 31 December 1997 and (b) in each year from 1998 to 2001 inclusive.

Jack Straw: The number of press bulletins issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the period specified is:
	May-December 1997: 381
	1998: 414
	1999: 593
	2000: 444
	2001: 363.
	The figures include a daily bulletin of ministerial engagements and announcements and other press releases. The daily bulletin may contain a number of announcements. All Foreign Office press releases, including statements and speeches by Ministers, can be read on our website at www.fco.gov.uk.

Visitor Visa Appeals

George Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the new arrangements for the payment of visitor visa appeals were implemented in all posts.

Ben Bradshaw: I am not aware of any new arrangements beyond those introduced on 2 October 2000 following the introduction of the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act.

Civil Servants

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many new entrants to the civil service were employed in his Department in each of the last five years; and how many in each year were aged 50 years and over.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 25 February. 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office on 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 879W. More detailed information on the civil service is published annually in "Civil Service Statistics", copies of which are laid in the Libraries of both Houses.

Departmental Payments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the instances in which his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies failed to pay valid invoices within 30 days or after the agreed credit period in the financial year 2000–01.

Denis MacShane: In 2000–01 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office failed to pay some 2.2 per cent. of valid invoices within 30 days of receipt or the agreed contract terms where these differ. The failure rate has been cut by 0.4 per cent. (15 per cent.) since 1998–99.

Access to Information

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which his Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997.

Denis MacShane: Administrative manuals and internal guidances made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information are as listed. This list may not be fully comprehensive. Not all the information requested is centrally recorded and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	1995
	Code of Practice on Access to Government Information—How to apply to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	1996
	Outline Note on the Management of FCO Records
	1997 March
	Guidance to Desk Officers on Export Licence and Arms Working Party Applications
	Summary of Guidance to Reviewers of FCO Records
	July
	Criteria to be used in considering licence application for the export of conventional arms
	Internal Guidance on Handling of Complaints About Maladministration by FCO staff
	1998
	Revised edition of Human Rights in Foreign Policy: Guidelines for Posts and Departments
	Revised edition of Guidance for Desk Officers on Export Licence and Arms Working Party Applications
	1999
	Revised edition of Human Rights in Foreign Policy: Guidelines for Posts and Departments
	2000
	Entry Clearance Best Practice Treaties and MOUs: Guidance on Practice and Procedures
	Handling of inquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information
	Guide to Data Protection Act 1998
	2001
	Annual Training Manual
	Records Management in the FCO: Policy Statement and Best Practice Manual.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years;
	(2)  if he will list for each of the last five years the total amount of money spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes.

Denis MacShane: Total cost of entertainment for each of the last five years was as follows:
	
		
			 Year £ 
		
		
			 1997–98 10,298,909.00 
			 1998–99 9,314,853.00 
			 1999–2000 11,228,371.00 
			 2000–01 13,102,685.15 
			 2001–02(7) 11,842,869.29 
		
	
	(7) To date, books not closed for 2001–02
	Entertainment expenditure covers a wide range of activities from entertaining individuals to dinner receptions for Government Ministers and high level visitors and other events to establish and cultivate contacts. All are undertaken in pursuit of FCO objectives, both in the UK and in our posts overseas.
	A more detailed analysis of entertainment to show the information requested about food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks is not possible without incurring disproportionate cost.

Ministerial Travel

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

Denis MacShane: For information on overseas travel by special advisers for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2001, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins) on 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 385W. Information on overseas travel for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible. All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code, and Civil Service Management Code.

Ministerial Travel

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times Ministers in his Department have travelled abroad at taxpayers' expense since March 2001; what countries they visited; and what the total cost of each visit was.

Denis MacShane: Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers visits overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Library of the House. The 1999 list contained information on all such visits undertaken from 2 May 1997 to 31 April 1999. Details of travel undertaken in the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible.
	All travel is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) private finance initiative and (b) public private partnership projects which have been delayed.

Denis MacShane: PFI contracts to build a new Embassy in Berlin and to establish the FCO telecommunications network were both delayed by nine months against our original timetables.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total external spending by his Department was on public private partnership consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PPP consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by his Department over this period; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 31 January 2002, Official Report, column 493W.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for PPP contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not entered into any PPP deals during the past four years.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for the five largest PFI contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has let two PFI Contracts during the last four years:
	A contract to build a new Embassy in Berlin was let in June 1998. After selection of the preferred bidder the contract cost did not change.
	A contract for the FCO Telecommunications Network (FTN) was let in May 2000. After selection of the preferred bidder the contract cost decreased from £111 million to £106 million (Net Present Value).

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Jack Straw: Yes.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Denis MacShane: In 2001–02 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office extended the use of close-circuit television cameras within its office buildings. In addition all Departments were asked to encourage their staff to ensure that valuable and accountable items were secured appropriately when not in use, particularly outside normal working hours.

SCOTLAND

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list the public service agreement targets which have been revised and those which have been introduced since the publication of the 2001 departmental report.

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which public service agreement targets scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date.

Helen Liddell: The Scotland Office does not have public service agreement targets.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its public service agreement targets.

Helen Liddell: The Scotland Office does not have public service agreement targets.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in her Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Helen Liddell: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget report on 17 April.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Helen Liddell: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's second report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear its commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Part-time Employees

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many and what proportion of the staff of her Department are part-time employees.

Helen Liddell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, Cabinet Office.

Tobacco Smuggling

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment she has made of the retail value of tobacco smuggled into Scotland without payment of the relevant duty.

Paul Boateng: I have been asked to reply.
	No estimate is available. However estimates of total tax revenue lost to the Exchequer through smuggling of tobacco products into the UK can be found in "Measuring Indirect Tax Fraud", published by Customs and Excise at the time of the November 2001 pre-Budget report.

ADVOCATE-GENERAL

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in her Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Lynda Clark: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget report on 17 April.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General which public service agreement targets scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date.

John Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Lynda Clark: My Department does not have public service agreement targets.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General if she will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Lynda Clark: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

PRIVY COUNCIL

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the President of the Council how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

Robin Cook: This information requested is not available. However, I do not foresee circumstances in which my special advisers would entertain from departmental funds.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the President of the Council if he will list for each of the last five years the total amount of money spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes.

Robin Cook: I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 701W.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the President of the Council how many press officers there were in his Department on (a) 1 May 1997 and (b) the latest available date.

Robin Cook: On 1 May 1997 my Department had one press officer. On 2 April 2002 it had two.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the President of the Council what the total cost of running the Department's press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.

Robin Cook: My Department does not incur salary costs for its press officers, both of whom are on the payroll of the Cabinet Office. The other information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the President of the Council how many special advisers there were in his Department; and what their salaries were in each of the last five years.

Robin Cook: The number of Special Advisers in my Department is as follows:
	
		
			 Date Number of Special Advisers 
		
		
			 1997–98 1 
			 1998–99 2 
			 1999–2000 2 
			 2000–01 2 
			 2001–01 (8)2 
		
	
	(8) A third special adviser to me is not in receipt of a public salary
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Prime Minister, Wednesday 10 April.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the President of the Council how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are part-time employees.

Robin Cook: My Department currently employs two members of staff on a part-time basis.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the President of the Council what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Robin Cook: I refer the hon. Member to my Answer given on 21 March 2002 Official Report, column 514W.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the President of the Council what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Robin Cook: My Department has a number of security measures in place to protect the property from theft or damage, although not all of them were introduced in 2001–02. These include physical security (electronic surveillance equipment; locked storerooms; video entry); security passes for all staff; a visitor book and special visitor passes and asset registers and inventories of equipment.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the President of the Council if he will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by his Department.

Robin Cook: All televisions in my Department are for business use only and therefore exempt from licensing.

TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS

Haven Gateway

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to visit the Haven Gateway; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Whitehead: I have no plans to visit the area in the near future. However, I am following closely the efforts of the Haven Gateway Partnership to raise the profile of the area and attract inward investment and tourism.

Register of Electors

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when the Government policy paper on the effect of the Robertson Judgment on the continuing sale of the Register of Electors will be published; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 26 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) Official Report, column 968W.

Polling Stations

Tony McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will urge returning officers to seek, whenever possible, premises other than school premises for voting purposes.

Alan Whitehead: It is the duty of district and London borough councils in England and county or county borough councils in Wales to provide for all electors such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances and, so far as is reasonable and practicable, accessible to the disabled. Guidance about the conduct of elections is now a matter for the Electoral Commission. Existing guidance, issued in 2001 by my right hon. Friend, then the Home Secretary, makes it clear that, where it is necessary to use school premises for voting purposes, every effort should be made to liaise with school authorities to limit disruption to school activities.

Renewal Fund (Lancashire)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many local authorities have benefited from the new neighbourhood Renewal Fund in Lancashire, giving (a) the amounts and (b) the local authorities.

Sally Keeble: The table shows the local authority areas in Lancashire that are eligible for the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) and their confirmed allocations in the first two years of the fund. Allocations for 2003–04 will be confirmed prior to that financial year, subject to parliamentary debate and approval:
	
		
			   NRF allocation  £ million  
			 Local authority  Year 1 2001–02 Year 2 2002–03 
		
		
			 Blackburn with Darwen 2.167412 3.251118 
			 Blackpool 1.503944 2.255916 
			 Burnley 0.636635 0.954953 
			 Hyndburn 0.646818 0.970227 
			 Pendle 0.980471 1.470707 
			 Preston 1.260217 1.890326

Local Authority Expenditure

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the impact of tax changes since 1997 on (a) local authority pension schemes and (b) additional resulting revenue costs incurred by authorities.

Alan Whitehead: The Local Government Association assessed the net effect of the 1997 decision to abolish Advanced Corporation Tax relief, which impacted on local authority pension funds, as £130 million per annum. This was taken into account in the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Local Authority Expenditure

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will rank each local authority in England showing the proportion of expenditure in 2000–01 which was met by central Government grant.

Alan Whitehead: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

London Borough of Merton

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much public money has been provided to the London Borough of Merton since 1997.

Alan Whitehead: London Borough of Merton have reported the following public funding.
	
		Revenue and capital grants paid to London Borough of Merton -- £000s
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01  2001–02 
			  Outturn Outturn Outturn Outturn Budget 
		
		
			 Revenue Grants  
			 Revenue Support Grant 53,036 57,342 59,829 54,923 59,104 
			 Redistributed Non-Domestic Rates 39,124 41,496 45,252 51,169 50,701 
			 Central Support Protection Grant — 0 0 376 0 
			 Ring-fenced Grants inside AEF(9) 7,024 8,310 11,237 17,011 18,800 
			 Revenue Grants paid into GFRA(10) 99,184 107,148 116,318 123,479 128,605 
			 Capital Grants (11) 0 3,380 4,610 4,057 5,971 
			 Total 99,184 110,528 120,928 127,536 134,576 
		
	
	Notes:
	(9) Aggregate External Finance (AEF) is central government support towards total standard spending. It comprises RSG, NNDR, and certain Ring-fenced grants.
	(10) This includes all revenue grants paid into the General Fund Revenue Account (GFRA), but may exclude certain public funding, for example for some non-departmental public bodies, which is recorded as income and is not separately identifiable.
	(11) Consists of central government, non-departmental public bodies and national lottery.
	Sources:
	1997–98 to 2000–01 Revenue Summary and Capital Outturn returns. 2001–02 General Fund Revenue Account and Capital Estimates returns.

Non-domestic Rate

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what non-domestic rate is proposed for (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland in 2002–03.

Alan Whitehead: The national non-domestic rate poundage (multiplier) for England for 2002–03 is 43.7 pence.
	The multiplier for Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government. The multiplier for Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive.

Physical Agents Directive

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make it his policy to make representations to the European Commission in opposition to the draft Physical Agents Directive on vibration.

Alan Whitehead: Agreement has already been reached on the Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive and it now merely needs to be ratified by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The UK has successfully negotiated provisions which meet the major concerns expressed by industry. The Government therefore welcomes the Directive, which it considers will result in time in significant improvements in health.

Local Authority Councillors (Employment)

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what statutory provisions govern restrictions in the employment of local authority councillors in a maintained school in the same local education authority area.

Alan Whitehead: Section 80 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 prohibits anyone, apart from a local authority's chair, vice chair, deputy chair, or members of its executive, from being a member of a local authority and holding paid employment to which they are appointed by that local authority, or a committee of that authority.
	Regulation 9 of the Education (Transition to New Framework) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1999 provides that the disqualification applies equally to teachers in schools maintained by a local authority who do or do not hold employment contracts with the local authority.
	Section 81(3) of the 1972 Act applies an exception enabling teachers employed by institutions maintained or assisted by county council to be members of a district council even where that district council nominates members of the county council's education authority.

Mayors

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what measures he has taken to enable directly elected mayors to operate in local councils.

Nick Raynsford: The Local Authorities (Elected Mayor and Mayor's Assistant)(England) Regulations 2002 have been laid before Parliament today. These provide for directly elected mayors to be treated as councillors for the purpose of certain legislation. This means that certain provisions which currently apply only to councillors will be extended to apply to elected mayors.
	In particular, the Regulations extend the permission to appoint a political assistant, which is currently enjoyed by political groups in local authorities to mayors. We are doing this in preparation for the arrival of the first directly elected mayors in councils, following elections being held on 2 May. A mayor's assistant will be subject to the same rules as apply to assistants for political groups who are already employed by local authorities and appointed by political groups.
	As with local authority political assistants now, a mayor's assistant will be a politically restricted post for the purposes of s1 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. This means they will be disqualified from becoming members of the local authority by which they are employed. In addition, mayor's assistants will not be able to discharge any functions of the local authority or the executive. The only staff which may work under the direction of a mayor's assistant are those providing the assistant or the mayor with clerical or secretarial support. A mayor's assistant will be subject to the same salary limit as a political assistant is now. This is set by the Secretary of State through an Order under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and is at present £25,044.

Right to Buy

Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 359W, on ex-local authority properties, what estimate he has made of the proportion of ex-local authorities sold under the right to buy scheme in London in which the leaseholder is the tenant who originally purchased the lease under that scheme.

Sally Keeble: We estimate that about 120,000 flats in London have been sold under the right to buy scheme since its introduction. Based on information derived from the Survey of English Housing, we estimate that around 50 per cent. of those householders who, as tenants, had originally purchased the lease under that scheme, had continued to be in occupation at the time of the survey in 2000–01.

Right to Buy

Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 359W, on ex-local authority properties, what plans he has to encourage local authorities actively to promote the buy back scheme to those holding the leasehold interest in ex-local authority properties previously sold under the right to buy.

Sally Keeble: We have no plans to do this. Councils have discretion to decide whom to help, in the light of local circumstances. They are best placed to judge who is in greatest need and how they should use their resources to help.

Civil Service Secondments

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many civil servants are seconded to each of the regional assemblies.

Alan Whitehead: 3 civil servants are on secondment to regional assemblies from the Government Offices. 1 is seconded to each of the Southwest Regional Assembly, North West Regional Assembly and Yorkshire and Humber Regional Assembly.

Travellers

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many traveller (a) caravans and (b) households were on (i) authorised and (ii) unauthorised sites in each parliamentary constituency in England and Wales for each year since 1997.

Stephen Byers: Data are not collected in the format and area breakdown sought.

Neighbourhood Renewal

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many local authorities have benefited from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, setting out the (a) amount and (b) the purpose of each award.

Sally Keeble: The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund was launched in 2001–02 to provide additional resources for local authorities to improve mainstream services in the most deprived areas, including contributing to the achievement of the floor targets to narrow the gap between deprived areas and the rest of the country. The fund provides £900 million over three years to the 88 most deprived districts in England.
	£200 million of funding was allocated for 2001–02. The purpose of the funding and individual allocations are set out in Special Grant Report No. 78, copies of which are available in the Library. £300 million of funding is being allocated for 2002–03. The updated purpose, allocations and conditions applying to the fund in 2002–03 are set out in Special Grant Report No. 93, which was approved on the floor of the House of Commons on 13 March. Copies of Report No. 93 have also been placed in the Library.

Neighbourhood Renewal

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what progress there has been towards the baseline assessment of the number of dwellings and the number and location of wards affected and at risk from low demand and unpopular housing, announced in the Social Exclusion Unit's National Strategy Action Plan for Neighbourhood Renewal.

Sally Keeble: As from April 2001, the annual Housing Investment Programme has included local authorities' assessment of low demand in their district. This has provided a baseline assessment of the number of dwellings affected by low demand and unpopular housing.
	In summer 2001, the DTLR commissioned Oxford university to explore the feasibility of local authorities and other holders of housing data assembling data at ward level that will help establish the number and location of wards affected and at risk from low demand. This work will also inform future development of the Housing Domain of the Index of Deprivation 2000. The project is due to report in late 2002.
	In addition, the English House Condition Survey 2001 will provide a valuer's professional assessment of housing demand, which will provide a more objective, national baseline. Data from the English House Condition Survey 2001 will be available in early 2003.

Empty Properties

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps are being taken to incentivise the renovation and conversion of empty properties which have fallen into disuse.

Sally Keeble: In the Budget 2001 the Government introduced a reduced 5 per cent. rate of VAT on the renovation of single household dwellings that have been empty for three years or more. We have recently consulted on proposals to give local authorities discretion to charge full council tax on long-term empty homes. Our planning policies include a package of tough new measures—including a brownfield first policy to meet the country's housing needs in the most sustainable way possible.
	To tackle problems in areas of low housing demand where empty homes proliferate, we intend to overhaul legislation governing private sector renewal and introduce selective licensing of private sector landlords. We are also looking at further options for more concerted action on a larger scale.

Disabled Facilities (Funding)

Matthew Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much funding was (a) allocated and (b) used by each housing association in the UK in each of the last five years for aids and adaptations to housing for people with disabilities.

Sally Keeble: Information about the amounts allocated to each housing association in England for aids and adaptations under the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme and Local Authority Social Housing Grant in the years 1997–98 to 2001–02 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	Information on disabled facilities grants given by local authorities to housing associations is not held centrally.

Disabled Facilities (Funding)

Matthew Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much funding was (a) allocated and (b) used in each of the last five years for the councils disabled facilities grant, for each council in the UK.

Sally Keeble: Figures showing the Government's allocation towards each English local authority's expenditure on DFGs, and that expenditure, over the last five years were placed in the Libraries of the House in January.

Relocation (Scotland)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to relocate executive agencies and non- departmental public bodies under the remit of his Department to Scotland.

Alan Whitehead: There are no plans at present to relocate any DTLR-sponsored executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to Scotland.

Building Regulations

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the costs and benefits of moving to near zero space heating buildings in advance of the next review of Part L of the Building Regulations; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Whitehead: My Department has not commissioned specific research on moving to near-zero space heating buildings. Work on the next review of Part L is in progress and the aim continues to be to see what further contribution can be made to achieving carbon dioxide emission targets while keeping the Building Regulations proportionate, cost-effective, reasonably flexible for designers and unlikely to cause construction defects.
	Once the proposals have been developed an evaluation of the benefits and the costs, including the environmental costs, of further reducing the energy consumption of new and existing buildings will be carried out, but it is unlikely that the results will indicate national regulatory requirements should demand near-zero space heating. However the regulatory requirements do not, and will not, prevent builders from adopting better performance criteria, including near-zero space heating if it suits particular circumstances.

Housing Revenue Account

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, ref 46109, if he will place in the Library copies of the latest housing revenue account business plans submitted by local authorities.

Sally Keeble: Data from all English local authorities' business plans are already placed on the Department's website, including for example the number of decent and non-decent homes in the authority's stock, at http:// www.housing.dtlr.gov.uk/local/hipoi/index.htm. Should the hon. Member wish to consult individual business plans, they can be obtained from the authority concerned.

Rough Sleepers (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many recorded rough sleepers in the City of York there were in each year since it became a unitary authority.

Sally Keeble: Published rough sleeper count figures for the City of York since 1998 are as follows.
	
		
			 Year Number 
		
		
			 1998 12 
			 1999 18 
			 2000 6 
			 2001 0

Council House Modernisation (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much central Government funding has been allocated to the City of York council for council house modernisation in each year since it became a unitary authority.

Sally Keeble: Total housing allocations made to the City of York council as annual capital guidelines, capital receipts initiative allocations (1997–98 to 1999–2000) and through the major repairs allowance (2001–02 onwards) are as follows:
	
		
			  £000 
		
		
			 1996–97 2,527 
			 1997–98 1,859 
			 1998–99 2,597 
			 1999–2000 2,807 
			 2000–01 5,093 
			 2001–02 6,448 
			 2002–03 6,344 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Except for the major repairs allowance, allocations are not made specifically for works to council housing.
	2. From 2000–01, the annual capital guideline includes resources for private sector renewal that had previously been allocated separately, reflecting our policy of giving local authorities more opportunity to determine their expenditure priorities locally.
	3. With the creation of the all-service single capital pot, first used for the allocations for 2002–03, only 95 per cent. of programme resources were allocated as annual capital guidelines, the remainder being in the single pot discretionary element, allocated on the basis of cross-service performance and the quality of capital strategies and asset management plans. The City of York obtained an allocation of £522k through this mechanism, which it is able to spend according to local priorities.

Housing Associations (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what grants have been made to housing associations providing housing in York by the Housing Corporation in each year since 1996.

Sally Keeble: The table shows the amounts approved under the Approved Development Programme (ADP) and Local Authority Social Housing Grant (LASHG) for housing associations in York for each year from 1996–97 to 2000–01; and the allocations made for 2001–02 and 2002–03.
	
		
			  ADP LASHG Total 
		
		
			 1996–97 2,134,060 0 2,134,060 
			 1997–98 1,512,388 0 1,512,388 
			 1998–99 2,142,886 802,879 2,945,765 
			 1999–2000 1,574,396 127,000 1,701,396 
			 2000–01 3,015,091 1,233,755 4,248,846 
			 2001–02 2,722,361 0 2,722,361 
			 2002–03 2,897,451 0 2,897,451

Affordable Homes

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how the funding for new affordable homes announced in the Social Exclusion Unit's National Strategy Action Plan for Neighbourhood Renewal has been allocated, broken down by (a) the amount, (b) the recipient and (c) the purpose of each award.

Sally Keeble: The Government are investing an additional £872 million in affordable housing through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme over the three years from 2001–02 to 2003–04, as set out in the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plan.
	The Housing Corporation's Investment Bulletin lists the amounts allocated to each registered social landlord receiving over £1 million in 2001–02 and states whether the grant was to provide accommodation for rent, home ownership or works to RSL stock (to bring units back into use). I have placed copies of the Bulletin in the Libraries of the House.
	The Corporation's Investment Bulletin for the 2002–03 Approved Development Programme will be available shortly. I will arrange for a copy to be sent to the hon. Member as well as place copies of the 2002–03 Bulletin in the Libraries of the House.
	The bidding round for 2003–04 will start in the summer.

Social Landlords

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what pilot schemes are in place to support the introduction of choice-based lettings policies by social landlords; and how much money has been spent on each of these schemes.

Sally Keeble: The Government are grant funding 27 local authority led pilot schemes to test different approaches to choice-based lettings policies for social housing. The pilot schemes are at various stages of development. The table sets out the amount of grant funding which each scheme (identified by its lead local authority) has received to date.
	
		£ 
		
			 Lead authority Grant received to date 
		
		
			 Bath and NE Somerset 38,533 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 24,485 
			 Bolton 111,589 
			 Bradford 23,259 
			 Brighton and Hove 86,789 
			 Camden 107,782 
			 Coventry 88,325 
			 Croydon 60,333 
			 Derby 164,883 
			 Ealing 268,466 
			 Eastbourne 0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 104,179 
			 Harborough 118,255 
			 Haringey 60,930 
			 Herefordshire DC 29,798 
			 Kennet 106,439 
			 Lewisham 64,625 
			 Manchester 179,088 
			 Mansfield 92,510 
			 Medway DC 25,085 
			 New Forest 133,409 
			 Newham 32,456 
			 Restormel 66,640 
			 Sandwell 647 
			 Sheffield 172,716 
			 Stockport 80,376 
			 Sunderland 65,566 
			  
			 Total 2,307,163

Social Dwellings

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2002, ref. 46220, on social dwellings, if he will initiate discussions with the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to achieve a common UK definition of a decent home.

Sally Keeble: The Government have no plans to initiate any process that could lead to changing the definition. It is important at this stage that social landlords have certainty about the definition of the standard so that they can carry through their plans to meet it.
	It is a matter for the devolved Administrations whether they wish to use the decent home definition. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive are planning to assess their stock against the decent home standard when the results of their 2001 House Condition Survey are available. The Welsh Assembly Government have developed the 'Welsh Housing Quality Standard' for housing in Wales, starting with the social housing sector. In the medium term the Scottish Executive are likely to develop an index of housing quality for assessing the quality of the Scottish stock.

Home Standards

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list by local authority the number of homes in each area which are not of a decent standard using the same criteria asset out in the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Sally Keeble: We do not have the requested information across all tenures, but some local authorities have estimated the number of homes within their own stock which were not of a decent standard at 1 April 2001. This information has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	All local authorities are working towards providing numbers of non-decent homes within their own stock at 1 April 2002 in their July 2002 Housing Revenue Account Business Plans.

Rate Relief

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he intends to issue the draft of new guidance on mandatory and discretionary rate relief, referred to in Strong Local Leadership-Guiding Public Services.

Alan Whitehead: We intend to issue the draft guidance for consultation in May.

Gap Funding

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the changes to the level of the private sector in urban regeneration following the withdrawal of gap funding.

Sally Keeble: The closure of the PIP programme, which substantially restricted gap funding, has constrained the use of the private sector in urban regeneration. We are currently working on ways of removing these constraints.
	The existing gap funding schemes enable the private sector to invest in regeneration schemes within defined limits. The Single Regeneration Budget, one of the Government's major regeneration programmes, is delivered through local regeneration partnerships and the private sector continues to be an important member of a large number of these. In addition, we have recently announced the English Cities Fund and support a number of urban regeneration companies in which the private sector are involved.

Parish Councils

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps he is taking to monitor the impact on the vitality of parish councils of new requirements for members' disclosure of interest.

Alan Whitehead: The whole of our modernisation agenda is focused on improving the vitality and effectiveness of local government including at parish council level. This includes the introduction of th new ethical framework, which will help to build confidence in the conduct of elected members. A research project to evaluate the impact of the new ethical framework will begin shortly.

Parish Councils

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to review the rules on the conduct of parish polls; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave him on 9 January 2002, Official Report, column 855W, and 10 January 2002, Official Report, columns 984–85W. Our intention is to consult interested parties by the summer about parish polls.

Community Housing

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the cost is of the community housing task force in the current year; and what its projected cost is in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Sally Keeble: holding answer 26 March 2002
	The total expenditure for the community housing task force for the financial year 2001–02 was £725,427; projected spend for 2002–03—£915,000 and; 2003–04—£946,824.

Parish Councillors

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what duty parish councillors have to provide notification to the monitoring officer of the responsible local authority of all interests, including financial interests, membership of institutions, companies or public bodies, as laid out in paragraph 13 of The Parish Council (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001; and if this requirement is subject to the limitation laid out in paragraph 1 (2) of the same Order.

Alan Whitehead: All councillors covered by the Local Government Act 2000 are required under section 81(2) to register such financial and other interests as are specified in the mandatory provisions of the model code of conduct applicable to their authority. The requirements about the discharge of this duty are set out in paragraph 13 of the Parish Councils (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001. The Code, except for paragraphs 4 and 5(a), does not have effect in relation to the activities of a member undertaken other than in an official capacity.

Planning

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many responses his Department received to the consultation on the Planning Green Paper; and when the results of the consultation will be published.

Stephen Byers: We have received over 13,000 responses to the consultation on the Planning Green Paper which we are now in the process of analysing. We will make a statement on the outcome of this exercise in due course.

Planning

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps his Department is taking to encourage planning bodies to give greater prominence to energy developments in planning guidance.

Sally Keeble: Planning Policy Guidance Note (PPG) 22 on renewable energy provides local planning authorities with guidance on a range of issues that affect the siting of renewable energy developments. We have already initiated the process of reviewing this guidance before issuing a revised draft for consultation. In the meantime, we have pressed ahead with updating the PPG 22 technical guidance on photovoltaics. This is published today and copies are being sent to all local planning authorities. Copies have also been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	Advice is also given on energy issues in PPG 11 (Regional Planning) and on utilities infrastructure in PPG 12 (Development Plans).

Correspondence

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, of 14 February concerning the consultation period for the PPP for the London Underground.

David Jamieson: The letter you refer to was dated 19 February and I replied to it on 19 March.

Equal Opportunities

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he has established a baseline for policy appraisal against which to measure progress on equal treatment; and what progress has been achieved.

Alan Whitehead: holding answer 26 March 2002
	The Department has developed a framework for the integrated appraisal of policy proposals. In addition to guiding policy makers through the economic, social and environmental considerations needing to be taken into account when assessing policy options, this framework ensures that distributional impacts, including by age, gender, disability, race, deprivation and income group, are addressed.
	We have also recently established a new Equality and Diversity Unit, whose remit it is to support the Department in achieving diversity in policies, programmes and service delivery, and also in our own employment practices. The unit is presently engaged in an assessment of the Department's compliance with the terms of the Race Relations (Compliance) Act 2000.

Equal Opportunities

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the women's organisations which have been consulted over proposed legislation by his Department during (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 sessions; and if their responses have been published.

Alan Whitehead: holding answer 26 March 2002
	A central consultation list detailing women's organisations is located on the DTLR(C) Equality and Diversity Unit website for use by DTLR Units in consulting over proposed policy and legislation. This central list is updated periodically, in consultation with the Cabinet Office Women and Equality Unit.
	Outcomes from individual Unit consultations may be made available on their Unit websites. Records and outcomes of consultations in general are not held centrally and the cost of researching and listing them would be disproportionate. None have been published in the time period in question.

Gender Impact Assessment

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the subject of each gender impact assessment drawn up by his Department since June 1997, indicating in each case whether the outcome has been (a) put out to consultation and (b) published.

Alan Whitehead: As an employer we monitor the impact on women of our recruitment, appraisal and promotion processes.
	We are continuing to make use of consultations, research projects and disaggregated statistics to identify the impact of policy on women. Specific examples include consultation of various women's organisations on smoking in taxis and the development of a public transport gender audit, which was published in March 2000. Other initiatives include the requirement to promote social inclusion (including meeting the transport needs of women and other social groups) in the Department's assessment of provisional Local Transport Plans.
	Our policies are subject to evaluation and will pick up differential impacts on specific groups, particularly where they are disadvantaged. Some policies do have intentional differential gender impacts; for example, the priority afforded to pregnant women and lone parent households (the majority of which are headed by women) in the allocation of council housing.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many press officers there are in his Department.

Alan Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 220W.
	Since then one press officer has rejoined the DTLR press office on return from maternity leave.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the total cost of running the Department's press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.

Alan Whitehead: Due to changes in the functions and responsibilities of the Department it is not possible to answer the question in the form requested.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for the five largest PFI contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for PPP contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Whitehead: holding answer 25 March 2002
	My Department has let six public private partnership (including PFI) contracts in the last four years: National Air Traffic Services PPP, Vehicle Inspectorate MOT Computerisation, Highways Agency A13 Thames Gateway (which has transferred to Transport for London), Highways Agency Traffic Control Centre, Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust and Waltham Forest Housing Action Trust.
	Information about bid prices and contract values in respect of the first four of these contracts cannot be provided for reasons of commercial confidentiality. It is not possible to provide the information for the Housing Action Trust PPPs because of their contract structure.

Non-Governmental Organisations

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-Governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Alan Whitehead: Secondments are defined as being a continuous interchange activity of three months or more, and are recorded on a financial year basis.
	There were the following numbers of inward secondees in the years in question:
	1999–2000: 50
	2000–01: 62
	2001–02: 104.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by him and his predecessor since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Alan Whitehead: holding answer 25 March 2002
	I have not appointed any unpaid advisers under paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code.
	For details of unpaid appointments made by this Department to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I would refer the right hon. Member to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 16 November 2001, Official Report, columns 895W-96W.

Access to Information

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which his Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997.

Alan Whitehead: No administrative manuals or internal guidance are currently published though certain material is available on request. Details of the Department's policy for handling public inquiries and the complaints procedure are published on the DTLR website.

Access to Information

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  whether the Permanent Secretary of his Department had received (a) oral and (b) written prior permission from Martin Sixsmith to refer to information which would ordinarily be exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in his statement of Monday 25 February;
	(2)  which aspects of the public statement made by the Permanent Secretary of his Department on Monday 25 February would ordinarily be exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information;
	(3)  which aspects of his statement to the House on 26 February 2002, Official Report, column 563, would ordinarily be exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information;
	(4)  whether he received (a) oral and (b) written prior permission from Martin Sixsmith to refer to information which would ordinarily be exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in his oral statement to the House of 26 February 2002, Official Report, column 563.

Stephen Byers: The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information does not require such permission to be obtained.
	Each decision on the release of information is considered on its individual merits.

Criminal Damage

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the cost has been of criminal damage to his Department's buildings in each of the last four years.

Alan Whitehead: The Department does not maintain a separate record of the cost of rectifying incidents of criminal damage.

Engineers

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many chartered engineers there are in his Department; and what grades they hold.

Alan Whitehead: holding answer 19 March 2002
	Very few posts within DTLR(C) require Chartered Engineer status. Where this is the case, individuals are recruited on a job specific basis and the information is not collated centrally. There may be individuals with Chartered Engineer status employed in generalist jobs within DTLR(C).
	Information on the number of Chartered Engineers employed by the Executive Agencies of my Department and in Government Offices is given as follows.
	DTLR Government Offices
	There are currently 17 chartered engineers at Special, Professional and Technical Grades (SPTO) in the Government Offices for the English Regions.
	Highways Agency (HA)
	The Highways Agency employs 541 engineers at the grades shown in the table. They may not all have chartered status as some may be graduates who are working towards it. For engineers who have achieved chartered status, the Agency does not pay professional fees and therefore has no record of whether the status has been retained.
	
		
			  Pay Band 3 Pay Band 4 Pay Band 5 Pay Band 6 Pay Band 7 Pay Band 8 SCS Total 
		
		
			 Building & Civil Engineer Technician 0 1 6 12 1 0 0 20 
			 Civil Engineer—Professional 0 5 40 197 124 35 15 416 
			 Civil Engineer Design Technician 0 1 3 8 0 0 0 12 
			 Civil Engineer—Highways 0 0 3 5 0 0 0 8 
			 Electrical Engineer 0 3 16 36 12 4 0 71 
			 Engineer—Electronic 0 0 0 1 0  0 1 
			 Mechanical Engineer 1 1 6 2 3 0 0 13 
			  
			 Total 1 11 74 261 140 39 15 541 
		
	
	Planning Inspectorate (PINS)
	The number of chartered engineers employed by PINS, by grade, is as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
		
		
			 Principal Housing and Planning Inspector 5 
			 Senior Housing and Planning Inspector 10 
			 Housing and Planning Inspector 7 
			 Flexible Housing and Planning Inspector 1 
			  23 
		
	
	Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)
	The Vehicle Certification Agency has 15 Chartered Engineers in the following grades:
	
		
			   Number 
		
		
			 Grade 5 1 
			 Grade 6 1 
			 Grade 7 4 
			 Grade S 6 
			 Grade H 3 
		
	
	Vehicle Inspectorate (VI)
	The Vehicle Inspectorate has six chartered engineers among its staff as follows:
	G6: 1
	G7: 4
	SPTO: 1.
	VI also employs many graduate engineers who have chosen not to apply for chartered status.
	VI has this year launched a graduate mechanical engineer programme in line with the Institution of Mechanical Engineer's Monitored Professional Development Programme which takes new graduates through four years structured training and leaves them qualified for Chartered Status, should they wish to apply. VI will be taking on two this year following a recruitment campaign for which there were 90 applicants. 16 candidates will attend assessment centres in mid-April and successful candidates will take up post in September.
	QE11 Conference Centre
	The QE11 has two Chartered Engineers, they do not have grades but the job titles are:
	Operations Director
	Systems and Engineering Manager. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
	The DVLA employs one Chartered Engineer at the Grade of Senior Executive Officer.
	Driving Standards Agency (DSA) and The Fire Service College
	Both these agencies have no Chartered Engineers.

Timber

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the companies from which his Department has obtained timber and wood products and the total spent with each firm over the last five years.

Alan Whitehead: Current data capture systems do not enable the information to be reported in the format requested. The Department is reviewing its management information systems with a view to capturing more specific information on timber and wood product purchases. In the meantime the following information is available from the Departments office furniture contracts:
	Ashers Systems Furniture since 1997: £370,500.00
	Flexiform Business Furniture since 1997: £941,000.00
	Godfrey Syrett since 1997: £685,000.00
	ROC since 1998: £22,300.00.
	Most of the timber used in manufacture is either chipboard or multi density fibreboard (MDF). The use of hardwood lipping is minimal. All contractors have been subject to annual Environmental Audits since November 1997 and as part of the Departments procurement policy it will include contractors supplying certification that all timbers used come from sustainable sources.

Departmental Contracts

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the 30 largest contracts awarded by his Department from (a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999, (c) May 1999 to April 2000, (d) May 2000 to April 2001 and (e) May 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, stating in each case the values of the contracts and the companies with which the contracts were placed.

Alan Whitehead: The information requested is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Staff Numbers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many staff have been employed by his Department in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 295W.

Digital Services

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by his Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose.

Alan Whitehead: DTLR subscribes to seven satellite TV packages for Ministers at a cost of £35 per month per subscription. The purpose is to ensure Ministers have easy access to news channels, including the parliamentary channel, so that they can keep abreast of events of the day that may be of interest to their areas of work within the Department.

Television Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by his Department.

Alan Whitehead: The information is as follows:
	(a) four, and (b) £436.

"Adapting to Change in Work and Society"

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what representations he has made to the European Commission concerning the proposals set out in "Adapting to Change in Work and Society".

Alan Whitehead: I am currently awaiting the advice of the Health and Safety Commission on this document and its implications for the UK approach to health and safety at work. In the light of that, I will consider the terms in which any formal UK reaction should be conveyed to the Commission.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in his Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Alan Whitehead: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget report on 17 April.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Alan Whitehead: Apart from the temporary introduction of the searching of bags and vehicles, my Department's existing protective measures were maintained and no new measures were considered necessary.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Alan Whitehead: In its response to the Public Administration Committee's Second Report of Session 2001–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for new major single regeneration budget projects and New Deal for Communities projects will be met by 31 March;
	(2)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target that by 2001–02 80 per cent. of written representation appeals should be decided within 16 weeks will be met;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for the reduction in the incidence of fire-related deaths in the home will be met by March 2003;
	(4)  what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets;
	(5)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to ensure that by December 2002 each council has agreed and put into operation a new constitution which is transparent, accountable and efficient will be met;
	(6)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to reduce by two thirds the number of people sleeping rough will be met by 2002;
	(7)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target that by 2001–02 80 per cent. of appeals by inquiry should be decided within 30 weeks will be met;
	(8)  if the PSA target for improvement in fire service efficiency will be met by the due date of March;
	(9)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to increase the number of passenger miles travelled on national railways by 15 per cent. by 2001–02 will be met;
	(10)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target that by 2001–02 80 per cent. of appeals should be decided by hearing within 22 weeks will be met;
	(11)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to increase by 2001–02 the numbers of annual regulatory contacts by the HSE to at least 200,000 and the number of investigations to at least 35,000 will be met;
	(12)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for 2001–02 for improvement in response time for all letters from hon. Members will be met;
	(13)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to end the decline in the condition of UK motorways and trunk roads and restore the cuts in the maintenance of local authority principal local roads and bridges by 31 March will be met;
	(14)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for reducing the backlog of council house repairs and providing new investment by 31 March will be met.

Alan Whitehead: Information about progress on these PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 departmental annual report.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to reduce car dependency by 31 March will be met.

Alan Whitehead: There is no such target.

Broadway and Pebworth Fire Stations

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the replacement of (a) Broadway and (b) Pebworth fire stations.

Alan Whitehead: Responsibility for the provision of an efficient fire service, including replacement of fire stations where this is deemed necessary, rests locally with the fire authority, in this case, the Hereford and Worcester Combined Fire Authority.

Multi-modal Studies

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  if he will set out the role and remit of the regional assemblies in the multi-modal studies;
	(2)  when the regional assemblies are due to report to him their recommendations on each of the multi-modal studies.

Stephen Byers: The precise role of the regional chambers (or assemblies) in the multi-modal study process varies from region to region. Where the regional chamber is the regional planning body (North West, Yorkshire and Humber, South East, South West and, from April 1, North East) it will receive recommendations from the multi-modal study steering group, and in turn make recommendations to Ministers.
	In addition, the North West Regional Assembly and South East England Regional Assembly are represented on their region's multi-modal study steering groups. It is for each regional planning body to decide when to make its recommendations to Ministers.

Multi-modal Studies

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the members of each of the multi-modal study steering groups.

Stephen Byers: Members of the multi-modal study steering groups have been drawn from representatives of various regional interests including local authorities, environmental groups, business organisations and public transport companies. Membership of the steering groups varies to reflect the different nature and scope of each study.
	I have arranged for a list of organisations that are represented on each of the multi-modal study steering group to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

National Air Traffic Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what changes have taken place to pension provision for NATS staff in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) on 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 741W.

National Air Traffic Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what changes in staffing levels and positions have taken place within NATS over the last year; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: This is a matter for National Air Traffic Services.

National Air Traffic Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what skill monitoring has been conducted by his Department and National Air Traffic Services of the views of staff on the restructuring of NATS.

David Jamieson: This is a matter for National Air Traffic Services.

Air Travel Statistics

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on how many people travelled through (a) Heathrow, (b) Gatwick and (c) Stansted in each of the last three years.

David Jamieson: The numbers of terminal passengers were as follows:
	
		Million 
		
			  1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Heathrow 61,975 64.266 60.432 
			 Gatwick 30.407 31.936 31.098 
			 Stansted 9.420 11.854 13.650 
		
	
	Source:
	BAA plc

Civil Aircraft Repairs

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what information he has (a) received and (b) sought from his Italian counterpart concerning the possible use in civil aircraft of (i) old and (ii) faulty spare parts falsely certified as being new;
	(2)  what steps he has taken to ensure that checks have been carried out on aircraft operated by UK airlines as to whether they may have been fitted with (a) old and (b) faulty spare parts falsely certified as being new.

David Jamieson: All UK registered commercial aircraft are subject to regular airworthiness inspections by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which also carries out systematic audits and ad hoc inspections of UK operators and aircraft Maintenance Organisations. The CAA is not complacent but is confident that the checks it carries out concerning the procurement of spare parts ensure that UK aviation standards are maintained at the highest level.
	When the CAA became aware of recent media reports concerning the alleged supply of unapproved or counterfeit parts originating from Italy it immediately contacted the Italian aviation regulatory authority, the Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile (ENAC) for further information. The CAA was informed that a suspect Italian company was undergoing criminal investigation for distributing aircraft parts that were considered unairworthy. ENAC recommended that all aircraft owners, operators, maintenance organisations, manufacturers and distributors review their records and parts supplied by this company. The CAA accordingly wrote to all UK owners and operators of commercial aircraft on 7 February requiring the inspection of aircraft, aircraft parts and inventories of parts in accordance with the ENAC recommendations, and any suspect parts quarantined and notified to the Authority. To date no such notification has been received.

Air Proximity Incidents (Newcastle Airport)

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps his Department is taking to reduce the risk of air proximity incidents involving civilian and RAF aircraft in the vicinity of Newcastle airport, following the recommendations of the Air Investigation branch and the Airprox board.

John Spellar: The Government's aviation safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has introduced several initiatives aimed at reducing conflicts between civilian and military aircraft in the vicinity of Newcastle airport following the recommendations of the Air Accident Investigation branch and the UK Airprox board. Military jets on exercises in the area must carry and use a serviceable secondary radar transponder and communicate directly with Newcastle Air Traffic Control Unit (ATCU). During large-scale military exercises a temporary additional buffer zone is placed around Newcastle and a military liaison officer is deployed to the Newcastle ATCU. The airport also provides CAA and MOD with monthly reports on issues of concern and appropriate remedial action is taken. The CAA and MOD have also jointly reviewed the airspace arrangements around Newcastle and are satisfied with them in the short and medium term, and are continuing to work towards further long-term improvements.

Airport Capacity (South-East)

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the recommendations put forward by the South East and East of England Regional Air Services Study reference group regarding airport capacity in south-east England.

David Jamieson: The role of the SERAS reference group is advisory. The group has not considered specific options for the location of airport capacity. However the group has provided a great deal of useful advice and guidance on the approach and methodology of the SERAS study, and that advice has very largely been taken on board.

Airport Capacity (South-East)

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many meetings took place between his Department and the South East and East of England Regional Air Services Study Reference Group in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001 to discuss airport capacity in south-east England.

David Jamieson: The SERAS Reference Group, comprising almost 50 members covering a wide range of interests, met in full session on four occasions in 2000 and three times in 2001.
	Throughout the study smaller meetings of Reference Group members considered specific issues of interest in detail.

Aggregates

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the impact of the Aggregates Levy on the demand for marine dredging.

Sally Keeble: The Regulatory Impact Assessment published with the proposal for an Aggregates Levy indicated that
	"a best estimate of the impact of a £1.60 Levy on the demand for aggregates would be a reduction of around 10 per cent."
	The Aggregates Levy is set at the same level—£1.60 per tonne—for rock and sand and gravel dug from the land and sand and gravel dredged from the sea. Any overall change in demand for aggregates is likely to affect both in a broadly similar way so no separate estimate has been made for the marine dredging sector.

Aggregates

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions which regulations limit noise, dirt and visual intrusion in aggregates quarrying; how many complaints about a possible breach of these regulations have been made in the last 12 months; and how many prosecutions have resulted from breaches of these regulations.

Sally Keeble: Noise, dirt and visual intrusion in aggregates quarrying are controlled through planning conditions imposed by the relevant Minerals Planning Authority (MPA). The MPA is responsible for enforcing such conditions and, together with Environmental Health Officers, is likely to receive any complaints from the public about the environmental performance of individual site operators. Statistics for complaints and enforcement actions resulting from breaches of planning conditions are not collected centrally.

Aggregates

Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to tighten the present regulations governing environmental standards in the quarry industry.

Sally Keeble: My Department has no current plans to tighten regulations governing environmental standards in the quarrying industry. Regulation in respect of environmental matters is essentially for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which is responsible for transposing the relevant European directives into UK law.
	My Department would need to reflect any relevant changes to environmental standards in guidance for Minerals Planning Authorities in preparing development plans and appropriate planning conditions in respect of both reviews of existing permissions and new permissions.

Aggregates

Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the amount of aggregates waste that will be stockpiled in quarries as a result of the aggregates levy.

Sally Keeble: The additional amount of aggregates waste that will be stockpiled in quarries as a result of the aggregates levy will depend on the nature and circumstances of the local market for aggregates.

Aggregates

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the projected lifespans are of the UK reserves of (a) sand, (b) gravel and (c) rock aggregates at the present rate of consumption.

Sally Keeble: Statistics on permitted reserves of aggregate minerals are available for England and Wales. However figures for sand and gravel are not available separately because both often occur in the same deposits. Comparison of these figures with recent annual sales statistics provides rough estimates of the theoretical period over which reserves would be completely depleted if demand remains at current levels.
	
		Permitted mineral reserves compared with sales, England and Wales
		
			  Sand and gravel Rock Total 
		
		
			 Permitted reserves in million tonnes(12) 921 6,353 7,274 
			 Annual production in million tonnes(13) 65 109 174 
			 Permitted reserves divided by annual production (years) 14.2 58.3 41.8 
		
	
	Notes:
	(12) From DETR 2000 Collation of the 1997 aggregate minerals survey for England and Wales. British Geological Survey (Keyworth).
	(13) From British Geological Survey 2001 UK Minerals Yearbook 2000. British Geological Survey (Keyworth) .
	Statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Office respectively.

International Load Line Convention

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will take steps to secure the review of the International Load Line Convention 1966.

David Jamieson: The United Kingdom is taking a leading role in negotiations within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to revise the International Load Line Convention 1966 as modified by its protocol of 1988. Test result data have already been made available to the relevant subcommittee of the IMO.

MV Derbyshire

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish MARIN test findings on the sinking of the MV Derbyshire.

David Jamieson: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have placed the MARIN Phase 1 report, the test specification and the statistical analysis results on their Formal Safety Assessment website (www.fsa.mcga.gov.uk). Succeeding phases of the MARIN test data will be available on request using compact discs.

MV Derbyshire

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if it is the Government's intention to appeal against the court's decision to award costs to the owners of the MV Derbyshire, Lloyd's Register and British Shipbuilders.

David Jamieson: Following the reopened formal investigation into the loss of the MV Derbyshire, in his judgment of May 2001 Mr. Justice Colman awarded costs on a proportionate basis.
	In all the circumstances of that judgment, the Department decided not to appeal against the award of costs. An appeal is now in any event time-barred.

Bulk Carrier Ships

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many bulk carriers have been sunk at sea worldwide since the MV Derbyshire sank in 1980; and how many lives have been lost.

David Jamieson: The database of casualty statistics maintained by Lloyd's Register shows that, since 1980, 244 bulk carriers of all flags and 1,574 lives have been lost. Losses vary from year to year but this represents an average death rate internationally of 75 per year.

Bulk Carrier Ships

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will urge the International Marine Organisation to provide for legislation to ensure that the loading rates for bulk carrier ships are age-related and take account of fatigue and corrosion.

David Jamieson: The United Kingdom played an active part in developing the Code of Safe Practice for Solid Bulk Cargoes which was adopted by the International Maritime Organisation by Resolution A.434 (XI), as amended.
	Amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) highlighted specific responsibilities placed on terminal operators, which were incorporated into United Kingdom legislation by the Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Cargoes) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999 No. 336), coming into force on 15 March 1999. More generally, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are leading in the IMO on a comprehensive Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) of bulk carriers that should clarify the need for future legislation.

Ferry Services (Scotland)

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions she is having with the Scottish Executive about specifications for future ferry services in the West Coast area and the Highlands and Islands.

David Jamieson: The service specification is a devolved matter for the Scottish Executive.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will press the International Maritime Organisation to require the protection of the jobs of seafarers who whistleblow.

David Jamieson: Employment rights fall outside the International Maritime Organisation's remit on this matter. The UK is, however, taking forward relevant recommendations of public inquiries such as the Derbyshire reopened formal investigation to promote a safety culture.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will press the International Maritime Organisation to require of member countries that the loss at sea of a marine vessel registered with them should be subjected to an investigation as rigorous as that for the loss of a civil aircraft during active service.

David Jamieson: Administrations that have ratified the convention for the safety of life at sea are obliged by Regulation 21 to conduct an investigation of any casualty occurring to any of its ships when it judges such an investigation may assist in determining what changes in the present regulations might be desirable. A similar obligation is required by Article 94 of the United Nations convention on law of the sea.
	The UK discharges its obligation by implementing the Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 1999. These provide powers to investigate accidents involving UK registered vessels wherever they might be and to investigate accidents involving foreign flagged vessels in UK waters.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will press the International Maritime Organisation to require the retrofitting of Voyage Data recorders to ships at sea.

David Jamieson: The UK has argued with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for retrofitting Voyage Data Recorders to ships at sea, with the result that passenger ships will be retrofitted in a phased programme between July 2002 and January 2004. Extension to include retrofitting to cargo ships is currently under study in the IMO, which is looking at practicability, standards and costs/benefits. The study is intended to be completed by the end of 2003.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will introduce legislation to ensure that the loss of UK registered marine vessels at sea is subjected to an investigation as rigorous as that for the loss of a civil aircraft during active service.

David Jamieson: The Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 1999 already enable the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents to conduct a rigorous investigation to establish the cause of any accident involving the loss of UK registered vessels.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will press the International Maritime Organisation (a) to review the competence of classification societies and (b) to set minimum standards expected of them, with sanctions for those that fall below those standards.

David Jamieson: The authorisation of classification societies as "recognised organisations" is the responsibility of each flag state. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Resolution A.739(18), adopted in November 1993, lays down guidelines for granting this authorisation, verification and monitoring, and minimum standards, and urges notification to the IMO of each authorisation and information regarding implementation of the resolution. The IMO reviews and improve these guidelines as necessary.
	If an organisation is not fulfilling the minimum standards set out in Resolution A.739(18), the relevant flag state can withdraw its "recognised" status and notify the IMO accordingly.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will press the International Maritime Organisation to require that member countries contribute to a global ships database giving the full history of all ships at sea.

David Jamieson: An international database, co-funded by the UK and known as EQUASIS, provides a single point of access to information concerning the safety and quality of the world's merchant ships. It records Port State Control detentions and information provided by shipowners' organisations, insurers, classification societies and seafaring unions.
	In addition, the UK is co-sponsoring a submission to the IMO's Flag State Implementation Sub-Committee which proposes that each ship should have a "Continuous Synopsis Record" which would provide a traceable and transparent history of the principal parties associated with the ship.

Shipping

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  if he will introduce legislation to require shipowners to insure crews fully against accidents at work;
	(2)  if he will press the International Maritime Organisation to require shipowners to insure crews fully against accidents at work.

David Jamieson: The Government believe that all shipowners should ensure they have the financial security to meet in full all their potential liabilities, including those to their employees.
	In November 1999, following an initiative by the UK, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed guidelines to shipowners on the provision of effective insurance or other means of financial security to meet internationally agreed limits of liability. The Government have issued a Marine Guidance Note (no 135, March 2000) to all UK registered shipowners, operators and others responsible for the operation of ships about compliance with the IMO guidelines.

Shoreham Harbour

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 37W, on Shoreham Harbour, when he expects to announce future appointments to Shoreham Port Authority.

David Jamieson: The date of any announcement will be dependent upon the results of the interviews for these vacancies, which are yet to be held.

Shoreham Harbour

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 36W, on Shoreham Harbour, what form the proposed consultation on the proposed Harbour Revision Order for Shoreham Harbour will take; and who will be consulted.

David Jamieson: There is a statutory requirement of Harbour Revision Orders to be advertised once in the London Gazette and for two successive weeks in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality of the harbour or the town in which the harbour is situated. There is then a 42 day objection period when any interested party can put their objections to the proposed order to the Secretary of State. Any other consultation in respect of this proposed order will be a matter for the Shoreham Port Authority, not my Department.

Shoreham Harbour

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answers of 13 and 18 March 2002, Official Report, columns 1090W and 37W, on Shoreham Harbour, for what reason no applicants for the vacant places on the Shoreham Port Authority Board have been interviewed.

David Jamieson: We are currently considering the recommended shortlist of candidates to be invited to interview.

Passenger Numbers

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what the (a) passengers in excess of capacity and (b) total number of passengers was for each London commuting service train operator, and in total, broken down into (i) am peak, (ii) pm peak and (iii) total as measured in the annual survey of (1) autumn 1999 and (2) early 2001;
	(2)  what the total number was of peak passengers into London for (a) am peak, (b) pm peak and (c) in total for each London commuting service train operator (i) recorded in 1989, as referred to on page 18 of the SRA annual report 2000–01 and (ii) in previous or subsequent years for which these data have been collected.

David Jamieson: Information is available for 1990 onwards and has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Railway (Lewes and Uckfield)

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent discussions he has had regarding the possible reopening of the railway line between Lewes and Uckfield; what assessment he has made of the benefits which would derive; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The Minister of State for Transport met the Wealden Line Group on 6 March to hear their case for reinstating the line between Lewes and Uckfield. The Heads of Terms for a new South Central franchise committed GoVia to produce a feasibility study for the Strategic Rail Authority. The new franchise agreement is currently being negotiated. The feasibility study will test the viability, affordability and value for money of the case for reinstatement of the Wealden line.

East-West Rail Link

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent estimate he has made of the impact on congestion on East-West London Underground routes during the 10-year plan period if a new Crossrail-type scheme is not opened as described in the background document to the 10-year plan.

David Jamieson: The Background Analysis to the 10-year plan published in July 2000 reports, at Figure 12, page 25, my most recent estimate of the impact a Crossrail type scheme on passenger overcrowding on the London Underground.

Network Rail

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the fees that will be incurred by Network Rail in establishing its banking facilities.

David Jamieson: This is a matter for Network Rail.

Network Rail

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he has received state aid approval from the European Commission for his proposed grant of £300 million to Network Rail.

David Jamieson: If Network Rail's offer for Railtrack plc's shares is successful any financial support provided to the company by Government would be notified to the European Commission as a potential state aid.

Railways

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the reliability and punctuality of (a) Thames Trains and (b) First Great Western Services on the Cotswold line between Worcester and Oxford in each year since 1997.

David Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority publish performance figures for each of the train operating companies entire network in their bi-annual publication "On Track". This is placed in the Libraries of the House. Statistics for specific routes are not held centrally.

Railways

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the future role of an independent economic regulator for the railways.

Stephen Byers: Independent economic regulation is and will continue to be an important element of the regulatory framework for the railways.

Railways

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  who is responsible for deciding on the metallurgical composition of the railway track laid in the UK;
	(2)  what information his Department holds on the training procedures in place for length examiners of the rail network.

David Jamieson: These are operational matters for Railtrack.

Rail Freight

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what investment is planned to allow the increase in rail freight movements to Northern Ireland via Stanraer and Cairnryan ports.

David Jamieson: I am not aware of any such plans.

Rail Investment

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the schedule is of (a) contractually and (b) provisionally agreed grants and other financial contributions from the public sector to the rail industry during the 10-year plan period.

David Jamieson: The profile of public sector support was set out in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) on 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 871–72W.
	Within this total support, the profile of network grants to Railtrack and its successor is set out in Appendix D of the Rail Regulator's October 2000 Periodic Review and in the appendices to the Regulator's letter to Railtrack of 9 April. Payments to the CTRL relate to the 1998 restructured deal with London and Continental Railways. Other grant payments, such as freight grants and the Rail Passenger Partnership fund are discussed in the SRA Strategic Plan and in the SRA Annual Report 2000–01.

Rail Speed Restrictions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many speed restrictions are in force in the UK rail system; and what the equivalent figure was for September 2001.

David Jamieson: At the end of March 2002 there were 663 temporary speed restrictions on the network. For the second part of the question I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 12 December 2001, Official Report, columns 869–70W.

Railtrack

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the closure arrangements are for his Department's contract with Arthur Andersen for advice on matters relating to Railtrack.

Stephen Byers: The Department currently has two contracts with Arthur Andersen on matters relating to Railtrack, which can be terminated by either party at any time.

DVLA (Lost Documents)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many personal documents went missing from the DVLA in the last year for which records are available.

David Jamieson: During the financial year 2000–01 the number of compensation claims met as a result of a customer not having received documentation, such as a passport or birth certificate, returned by DVLA in support of a driving licence application were 3,474 or 0.06 per cent. of the 5.4 million licences issued in the same period.
	Of these claims Royal Mail accepted responsibility for the loss of 70 per cent. and reimbursed DVLA accordingly.

HGV Operating Licences

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make parish councils statutory consultees in consultations on the grant of HGV operating licences.

David Jamieson: The most effective way for parish councils to comment on applications for a heavy goods vehicle operator's licence is to work with local authorities who have a statutory right to object. In our consultation paper "Quality town and parish councils" published in November 2001 we set out our proposals for improved partnership working between local authorities and local parish and town councils to give them a stronger voice in decisions that affect people's lives. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation paper.

Transport (Deprived Areas)

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the local authorities that have implemented policies to improve public transport provision in deprived areas as part of their full local transport plans, giving details of the provision in each case.

Sally Keeble: The information is not available in the form requested.
	Our guidance to local authorities on full local transport plans (LTPs) made clear that authorities need to consider the transport needs of their area as a whole. In doing so authorities should develop local policies for integrated transport within the framework of the Government's over-arching objectives for transport, namely to improve safety, to promote accessibility, to contribute to an efficient economy, to promote integration and to protect the environment.
	We also made clear that LTPs should reflect local circumstances, so where public transport provision in deprived areas is a locally-identified problem we would expect authorities to develop measures aimed at tackling such issues. The annual progress reports for the first year of full local transport plans are due to be submitted at the end of July this year. We have asked authorities to report examples of their efforts in reducing social exclusion through measures in their LTPs.
	The Social Exclusion Unit is currently looking at how transport issues can contribute to social exclusion and what can be done to deliver improvements. We will be considering the recommendations of their report in terms of local transport plans following its publication in the summer.

Inter-urban Congestion

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 25 March, Ref. 46194, if he will publish estimates of inter-urban congestion for 1999.

David Jamieson: The estimates of inter-urban congestion in 2000 will be a baseline against which we will monitor progress towards our PSA target to reduce congestion below 2000 levels by 2010. The speed surveys from which they are derived were designed specifically to enable the estimation of congestion for 2000. The data from previous surveys are insufficient to establish robust congestion figures and the Department therefore does not intend to publish congestion figures for years before 2000.

Driving (Drug Use)

Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  if he will issue guidance on the levels of cannabis consumption for which it would be considered safe to drive;
	(2)  what research he has evaluated on the effect on driving ability of various drugs;
	(3)  what research he has evaluated on the safe level of cannabis in the body for driving;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of recent research from the Transport Research Laboratory on the effect of (a) alcohol and (b) cannabis consumption on driving ability.

David Jamieson: A report into the effects of cannabis on driving was published in December 2000. A report on the effects of cannabis and alcohol on driving is expected shortly. A review on the effects of over-the-counter medicines, published in June 2001, concluded that there was a potential for sleepiness in drivers and made recommendations on labelling and guidance to patients. A study into antidepressants and driving is in progress and should be concluded in the summer.
	The cannabis research found that there are measurable effects on driver performance and that drivers can be impaired. There are no grounds for specifying a safe level of use of cannabis while driving and no plans to do so.
	The issue for road safety is impairment of driving. The Department has therefore been supporting the police in their training of officers in recognising the signs of drug use and in tests to help them judge whether a suspect may be impaired due to drugs.

M4

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the studies initiated by his Department and other Government agencies covering all or part of the M4.

Stephen Byers: The three transport studies currently under way which cover part or most of the M4 are the London to South West and Wales Study, the Thames Valley and the Orbit multi modal studies. In addition, the Highways Agency are undertaking a Route Management Strategy for Junctions 1 to 15 of the M4 and a further 28 smaller-scale studies into specific issues beyond junction 15.

M4

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what (a) the remit of the Highways Agency's M4 Route Management Strategy and (b) the date for completion of the exercise is.

Stephen Byers: The M4 Junctions 1–15 Route Management Strategy will, in close consultation with local communities, address the specific needs of this section of the M4 and develop an action plan for its management. By contract the Thames Valley Multi Modal Study aims to identify the wider transport and land use problems and opportunities throughout the Thames Valley and develop an overall investment strategy for this transport corridor. This will provide opportunities for integrated transport and will allow more sustainable development in the future.
	An interim Route Management Strategy for the M4 from Junction 1 to Junction 15 will be in place this summer. The Route Management Strategy will be finalised in 2003, when the outcome of the Thames Valley Multi Modal Study is known.

A449

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the timetable for improving road safety on the A449 at Hartlebury.

David Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. Peter Luff, dated 10 April 2002
	The Transport Minister, David Jamieson, has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the A449 at Hartlebury.
	We consulted the public last November about proposals for a scheme to improve safety at Waresley Turn, Hartlebury and we are now considering the responses.
	We hope to take a final decision on the scheme this summer and start work in 2003.
	If you require any further information, Dennis Wheeler, the Route Manager for this section of the A449, would be pleased to help. He can be contacted at the Agency's offices at Broadway, Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1BL or by telephone on 0121 678 8126.

M27

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what plans there are to resurface the M27 between junctions 5 and 11;
	(2)  what representations he has received on resurfacing the M27 between junctions 5 and 11.

David Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Mr. Tim Matthews, to reply to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. Mark Hoban, dated 10 April 2002
	The Transport Minister, David Jamieson, has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the M27 between Junctions 5 and 11.
	Since July 2001, we have received a number of representations from people asking when the M27 between Junctions 5 and 11 will be resurfaced.
	The Government's 10 Year Plan for Transport tasked the Agency with installing quieter surfaces on over 60% of the network, including all concrete stretches, by 31 March 2011.
	The programme to achieve this will include the concrete section of the M27 between junctions 5 and 7. Junctions 7 to 8 and 10 to 11 are surfaced with a bituminous material and, when re-surfacing is carried out for operational reasons, a low noise surface will be used. The section between junctions 8 and 10 has already been resurfaced with a low noise surface.
	If you would like any further information, the Agency's Area Manager, John Rylett will be pleased to help you. He can be contacted on 01306 878251.

Traffic Speed

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average traffic speed in (a) central London, (b) Greater London, (c) Essex, (d) Kent, (e) Warwickshire, (f) North Yorkshire, (g) Lancashire, (h) Cornwall, (i) Cardiff and (j) Glasgow was in the last year for which figures are available.

David Jamieson: Estimates are available for average traffic speeds in London, from speed surveys conducted for Transport for London. The following estimates are based on surveys in 2000 for central London and between 1997–2000 for the whole of Greater London.
	
		Average traffic speeds, mph
		
			   am peak Daytime off-peak pm peak 
		
		
			 Central London (2000) 9.9 9.0 9.6 
			 Greater London (1997–2000) 15.9 18.5 16.2 
		
	
	Estimates for the other areas listed are not available. DTLR conducts surveys of speed on the trunk roads network and in large urban areas in England, but results for individual counties or for urban areas outside England are not available.

Traffic Speed

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many representations his Department has received for reductions in local speed limits; and how many representations have resulted in reduction in speed limits in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02.

David Jamieson: None. Responsibility for setting local speed limits rests solely with the local authority concerned.

Traffic Speed

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what criteria are used in assessing whether a speed limit should be (a) 40, (b) 30 and (c) 20 miles per hour; and what criteria are used when considering representations for reductions in speed limits.

David Jamieson: The Department issues guidance in the form of Circular Roads 1/93 for setting local speed limits. For 20mph zones and speed limits Circular 05/99 is used. Responsibility for setting local speed limits rests solely with the local authority concerned.

Traffic Speed

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many speed cameras there are in Surrey; and how many people were convicted as a result of their use in the most recent year for which information is available.

David Jamieson: This information is not held centrally.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if trunk roads maintenance contractors have been found in breach of their obligations in respect of their duties in relation to the trunk road network in the last 12 months.

David Jamieson: There have been no firms in significant default of obligations in the last 12 months. If small failings in terms of achieving specific levels of service or in defects in work occur the Highways Agency require firms to rectify them and demonstrate how they will be prevented from happening again. Provided firms respond appropriately to these failings then they would not be considered to be in overall breach of contract.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what default notices have been issued to trunk roads maintenance contractors in the last 12 months.

David Jamieson: No default notices have been issued in the last 12 months.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the provision of his Department's contracts with trunk roads maintenance contractors concerning the company's failure to perform its obligations have been made public; and what the reasons are for his policy.

David Jamieson: The provisions concerning the company's failure to perform its obligations, contained in the Conditions of Contract, have not been made public because no requests for such information have been received. Standard terms and conditions covering non-performance can be made available.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what statutory powers he possesses under trunk roads maintenance contracts to issue directions, orders or instructions to the maintenance companies in respect of fulfilling obligations under the contract with particular reference to instructions to use more equipment and materials.

David Jamieson: The Highways Agency acting on behalf of the Secretary of State has contractual powers rather than statutory powers to instruct changes. These powers are limited by the European directives aimed at ensuring fair competition, but the Highways Agency can instruct changes within the scope of the contract.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the contracts with trunk roads maintenance contractors have been reviewed after they were awarded; and what penalties his Department may incur should it decide to cancel a contract on the grounds of non-performance.

David Jamieson: Contracts have been reviewed since their award and will continue to be so on a regular basis. If a contractor failed to perform and was in significant breach of their obligations then the contract could be terminated without any compensation, although in most cases the Highways Agency would expect to work with the contractor to remedy any concerns before resorting to termination.

Road Maintenance

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if provisions of its contract with trunk roads maintenance contractors are made public.

David Jamieson: Provisions of contracts with trunk road maintenance contractors, which are commercially confidential, are not made public. Generic documents (model contract) including standard terms and conditions can be made available.

Road Maintenance

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many workers working on roads and motorways have been (a) killed and (b) injured by vehicles in each of the last five years.

Alan Whitehead: The number of injuries to workers hit by vehicles occurring in the processes of road repairs and surfacing, and in street cleaning and verge maintenance, 1996–97 to 2000–01 1 .
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01(14) 
		
		
			  Fatal injuries 
			 Road repairs/surfacing/maintenance 3 2 2 2 5 
			 Road verge maintenance — — — — 1 
			   
			  Major injuries 
			 Road repairs/surfacing/maintenance 14 10 12 14 10 
			 Road verge maintenance 1 2 — 1 — 
			   
			  Over three day injuries 
			 Road repairs/surfacing/maintenance 23 20 19 23 19 
			 Road verge maintenance — 3 1 2 2 
		
	
	(14) Provisional
	Note:
	The question seeks injuries to workers on roads and motorways. These statistics relate to workers which includes employees and self-employed people.

Traffic Accidents

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on traffic accident (a) fatalities and (b) serious injuries for each of the last five years.

David Jamieson: The casualty statistics for Great Britain for 2001 are still being compiled. The numbers of people killed and seriously injured in the five previous years were as follows:
	
		
			  Killed Seriously injured 
		
		
			 1996 3,598 44,499 
			 1997 3,599 42,984 
			 1998 3,421 40,834 
			 1999 3,423 39,122 
			 2000 3,409 38,155 
		
	
	One of the targets in the Government's road safety strategy "Tomorrow's roads—safer for everyone" is to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent. compared with the average for the years 1994 to 1998. The 41,564 deaths and serious injuries in 2000 is 13 per cent. less than the average. We shall be reviewing our targets next year to ensure that they remain both achievable and challenging.

Traffic Accidents

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many road traffic accidents there were in Herefordshire in the last five years that led to fatalities and serious injuries; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The information is as follows:
	
		Herefordshire
		
			  Serious injury Fatal 
		
		
			 1997 270 16 
			 1998 208 24 
			 1999 179 13 
			 2000 172 12 
			 2001 179 19 
		
	
	The number of killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties continued to fall to 2000 but there was a slight increase in 2001. The KSI trend is on track to at least meet, if not exceed the national target set for 2010 of a 40 per cent. reduction from the 1994–98 baseline average.

Road Safety

Alice Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) schools and (b) local groups benefited from a local authority-run (i) pedestrian and (ii) cycle training courses in 2001.

David Jamieson: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Road Safety

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much of his Department's road safety publicity budget was spent on producing television filler advertisements in 2001; and how much it intends to spend on producing television filler advertisements in 2002.

Alan Whitehead: The Department committed approximately £230,000 to producing television filler advertisements in 2001–02; these will be aired from 2002 onwards. It intends to commit approximately £200,000 in 2002–03, covering, among other things, horse riding, mobile phones and bad weather.

Employer's Liability Insurance

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the change in premiums for employers' liability insurance (a) in the last five years and (b) since 11 September 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
	The terms, conditions and price of insurance products change constantly in response to market conditions.
	I am not aware of any significant changes directly attributable to 11 September, except in the availability of insurance against terrorism risk.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Advertising

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the expenditure was per campaign for the five most expensive media advertising campaigns her Department undertook in the past five parliamentary Sessions including the current parliamentary Session in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland; and, for the last two parliamentary Sessions and the current Session, when each advertising campaign (i) began and (ii) ended in (A) England, (B) Wales and (C) Northern Ireland.

Ivan Lewis: The Department does not target Wales and Northern Ireland (or Scotland) with its advertising. This means that regional media outside England is not used for departmental advertising. However, our campaigns do unavoidably receive some coverage in Wales and Northern Ireland through the use of national newspapers, satellite television and other national media which reaches outside England.
	It is not possible to provide the information as requested by parliamentary Session, except at disproportionate cost. The figures by financial year are as follows:
	
		
			  £000 
		
		
			 1997–98  
			 New Deal 4,621 
			 National Traineeships 800 
			 Modern Apprenticeships 650 
			 Small Business Consultation 521 
			 National Training Awards 391 
			   
			 1998–99  
			 New Deal 4,772 
			 Reading and Literacy 3,648 
			 Disability Discrimination 1,924 
			 National Traineeships 1,502 
			 Learning Direct 619 
		
	
	
		
			  £000 Start date End date 
		
		
			 1999–2000
			 Disability Discrimination 2,643 April March 
			 Maths Year 2000 2,322 January March 
			 Age Diversity 1,128 February March 
			 National Traineeships 1,077 April March 
			 One 873 June February 
			 
			 2000–01
			 Don't Quit Now 2,700 July October 
			 New Deal 50 plus 2,400 September March 
			 ICT Employability 2,011 February March 
			 Childcare Recruitment 1,821 June February 
			 Disability Discrimination 1,242 October March 
			   
			 2001–02(15)
			 Adult Basic Skills "Get On" 4,680 September March 
			 Childcare Recruitment 2,504 July October 
			 Science Year 2001–02 1,843 October March 
			 Modern Apprenticeships 1,780 April March 
			 Excellence Challenge 1,750 February December 
		
	
	(15) To date

European Union Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to her Department that have been implemented in each of the last four years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to businesses of each.

Margaret Hodge: My Department has been responsible for the implementation of one directive in the past four years. My officials are currently working on the implementation of a second. The details are as follows:
	Title:
	Directive 2000/5/EC of 25 February 2000 amending Annexes C and D of Directive 92/51/EEC on general system for the recognition of professional education and training to supplement Directive 89/48/EEC.
	Purpose:
	The amendment obliges UK authorities to take account of new training introduced in Austria for certain health professions and obliges other member states' authorities to take account of changes to training in UK.
	Costs:
	The UK's transposition in respect of Directive 2000/5/EC was SI 2001/200 came into force on 27 February 2001. This measure had no cost to public funds or businesses.
	Title:
	Directive 2001/19/EC of 14 May 2001 amends Directive 89/48/EEC and Directive 92/51/EEC on the general system for the recognition of professional qualifications and Council Directives 77/452/EEC, 77/453/EEC. 78/686/EEC, 78/687/EEC, 78/1026/EEC, 78/1027/EEC, 80/154/EEC, 80/155/EEC, 85/384/EEC, 85/432/EEC 85/433/EEC and 93/16/EEC concerning the professions of nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife, architect, pharmacist and doctor.
	Purpose:
	This directive amends a number of directives. Its purpose is to oblige member states to take account of post-qualification professional experience as part of the recognition process.
	Costs:
	The transposition date for this directive is 1 January 2003. There will be no cost to the public funds or businesses.

Parental Leave Directive

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the (a) financial costs and (b) benefits to her Department of the Parental Leave Directive.

Ivan Lewis: Staff in the Department can take 13 weeks parental leave, or 18 weeks in the case of a disabled child. As parental leave is unpaid, there has been no direct financial cost to the Department.
	Parental leave and other flexible working policies help to enable the Department to get the most from staff with a wide range of responsibilities outside work.

Ministerial Private Offices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the running costs were of (a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff and (b) her Department in each year from May 1997 to the nearest date for which the information is available.

Ivan Lewis: Running cost information for the Department for Education and Skills, created in June 2001, is not yet available. The information given in the table refers to the Department's predecessor, the Department for Education and Employment.
	
		£ million 
		
			  (a) Ministers' private offices (b) Department(16) 
			  Total Of which staff  
		
		
			 2000–01 2.3 1.5 261 
			 1999–2000 2.0 1.3 264 
			 1998–99 1.9 1.2 252 
			 1997–98 (17)— (17)— 237 
		
	
	(16) Net amounts within the Departmental Expenditure Limit and from the Employment Opportunities Fund
	(17) Not held in the format requested

Staff: Pupil Ratios

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many classroom and teaching assistants and nursery nurses are employed in England; and what the ratio was to pupil numbers in (a) 1996 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Full-time equivalent teaching assistants and ratios of teachers, adults and teaching assistants to pupils in schools in England, -- as at January each year
		
			  FTE teaching assistants(18),(19) Pupil:teacher ratio(20) Pupil: adult ratio(21),(22) Pupil:teaching assistant ratio(23)  
			  1996 2001 1996 2001 1996 2001 1996 2001 
		
		
			 Nursery 2,098 2,323 19.2 17.7 8.2 6.0 14.5 11.4 
			 Primary(24) 37,318 63,176 23.2 22.9 18.0 15.0 113.4 67.3 
			 Secondary(24) 6,434 15,467 16.6 17.1 14.6 14.0 467.9 209.0 
			 Special(25) 10,609 14,227 6.5 6.4 3.1 2.0 9.1 6.6 
			 Pupil referral units 234 623 4.3 4.4 3.4 3.0 29.4 14.9 
		
	
	(18) Includes both full-time and the full-time equivalent of part-time teaching assistants.
	(19) Includes nursery assistants, special needs support staff, minority ethnic pupil support staff and non-teaching assistants.
	(20) The pupil:teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent qualified teachers employed in schools.
	(21) The pupil:adult ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent qualified teachers and education support staff employed in schools.
	(22) Education support staff includes instructors and student teachers, foreign language assistants, unqualified teachers, graduate or registered teachers, teachers entitled to qualify by service, teachers not recognised as qualified and all non-teaching staff excluding administrative and clerical staff.
	(23) The pupil:teaching assistant ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent teaching assistants employed in schools.
	(24) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(25) Includes non-maintained special schools and special and general hospital schools.
	Source:
	Annual schools census.

Territorial Forces

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many members of staff in her Department are members of the territorial forces; and if she has a strategy to encourage members of staff to become members of the territorial forces.

Ivan Lewis: My Department does not hold this information centrally and could provide it only at disproportionate cost.
	The Civil Service Management Code (paragraph 9.2.5) requires Departments and agencies to allow members of the Reserve Forces, Territorial Army or Cadet Forces time off work. My Department demonstrates its support to serving employees by allowing them special leave with pay to undertake training.

Staff (Locally Elected Representatives)

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many members of staff at her Department are locally elected democratic representatives; and if she has a strategy for her Department to encourage members of staff to become locally elected democratic representatives.

Ivan Lewis: My Department does not hold this information centrally and could provide it only at disproportionate cost.
	Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996 requires employers to allow their staff reasonable time off for public duties. The Civil Service Management Code (paragraph 9.2.5) also requires Departments to allow time off for attendance required by section 50 of the ERA 1996. My Department demonstrates its support to employees who are elected representatives by allowing them special leave with pay to perform the duties associated with their office.

Golden Jubilee

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money the Department has spent on the Queen's Jubilee in each of the past three years; how the money was allocated; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: My Department is contributing a total of £1 million towards education elements of the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival, which is linked to the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and £80,000 to other Jubilee-related projects. Spending to date by my Department in the last three financial years, is as follows:
	1999–2000
	No expenditure.
	2000–01
	£110,000 to the Youth Sports Trust to support various elements of the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival.
	£125,000 to the Commonwealth Institute to support various elements of the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival.
	2001–02
	£200,000 to the Youth Sports Trust to support various elements of the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival.
	£445,000 to the Commonwealth Institute to support various elements of the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival.
	£39,200 towards a Jubilee national poetry competition for schools in conjunction with Buckingham Palace and the Poet Laureate.
	£40,000 to the Millennium Tapestry Company to fund the exhibition of the millennium children's tapestry of hope at various venues.

Human Rights Act

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases have been brought against her Department under the Human Rights Act 1998; and what has been the cost in (a) legal fees to defend cases and (b) compensation payments.

Ivan Lewis: We do not collect central records of all cases in which the Human Rights Act 1998 is relied on. Human rights are now integrated in the general law and are rarely the sole basis for a challenge.
	We do not collect separate information centrally about the costs to public funds, legal fees or compensation payments in cases which include a human rights dimension.

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people employed by her Department under the new deal for young people in each of the last four years have subsequently (a) found unsubsidised employment for more than 13 weeks and (b) returned to jobseeker's allowance or other benefits.

Ivan Lewis: We do not monitor new dealers who leave the Department.
	Over the past four years, 22 new deal participants have secured unsubsidised employment with this Department.

School Census

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  if she will examine the security of the school census information to ensure that no external bodies can gain access to the information;
	(2)  if she will examine Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 in connection with the keeping of records by the Department on children of school age.

Stephen Timms: Stringent safeguards are in place to prevent unauthorised access to Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) data, or other data held by the Department, from which individual pupils could be identified. These safeguards comply with or exceed guidance in the Cabinet Office Manual of Protective Security, and the British Standard for information security. An audit of the arrangements for PLASC, carried out in February 2002, confirmed compliance. These arrangements are being kept under regular review in the light of advice from the Information Commissioner and other developments.
	Certain limited disclosures of PLASC data, with pupil names, may however take place provided these comply with the Data Protection Act 1988 and other legislative requirements. For further details I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 January 2002, Official Report, columns 109–11W to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington).
	We are satisfied that PLASC and the proposed central pupil database are compatible with Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and so with the Human Rights Act 1988.

Sports Days

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she has had with the Ministers in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the desirability of requiring each school to hold an annual sports day.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no direct discussions with DCMS Ministers specifically about school sports days. The Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport work closely together in order to maximise the benefits of PE and school sport for all pupils. Our White Paper "Schools: achieving success" includes a commitment that all children will be entitled to two hours of high quality PE and school sport a week, within and outside the curriculum. School sports days, of course, have an important role to play as part of an overall package of PE and sport opportunities for all children. One of the key aims of our School Sports Co-ordinators programme is to increase the amount of inter and intra-school competitive sport. Work being undertaken by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority suggests that the vast majority of schools do not hold an annual sports day or a similar event.

School Curriculum

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she has had with Ofsted regarding the content of the biology curriculum and the teaching of evolution.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets the Chief Inspector of Ofsted to discuss matters relating to the curriculum and teaching in schools, including the teaching of science (where biology and evolution are taught).

School Curriculum

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she has had with Ofsted regarding the teaching of creationism in state schools.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 21 March 2002
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets the Chief Inspector of Ofsted to discuss matters relating to the curriculum and teaching in schools but has never discussed the specific issue of teaching creationism in state schools.

School Curriculum

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidelines she has given to schools regarding the place of creationism in the curriculum.

Ivan Lewis: All state-funded schools have a responsibility to provide a broad and balanced curriculum to their pupils. Statutory and non-statutory guidelines are available to support teachers. The schemes of work for Religious Education produced by the QCA offer guidance for teachers who want to address the issue of creationism during RE lessons.

School Curriculum

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent guidance she has issued to schools regarding the teaching of creationism in the curriculum.

Ivan Lewis: All state-funded schools have a responsibility to provide a broad and balanced curriculum to their pupils. Statutory and non-statutory guidelines are available to support teachers. The schemes of work for Religious Education produced by the QCA offer guidance for teachers who want to address the issue of creationism during RE lessons.

University Funding

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has for a sustained and targeted increase in funding to universities to cover the costs of recruiting and retaining students from less well off backgrounds.

Margaret Hodge: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is currently reviewing the additional funding it allocates to higher education institutions to recognize the additional costs of recruiting and retaining students from non-traditional backgrounds (the 'postcode premium'), and will be consulting on widening participation, including the basis on which the postcode premium is allocated, later in the spring.
	Plans for spending in future years will depend upon the outcome of the Spending Review.

IT Skills

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what plans she has for addressing the skills shortage in programming and systems analysis; what assessment she has made of the extent of that skills shortage; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans she has to meet with computer training companies to discuss provision for higher level skills training in the information and communications technology sector;
	(3)  if she will develop, alongside a replacement individual learning account scheme, a project focused more directly upon the identified skills shortages of British industry, with particular reference to the information and communications technology sector.

John Healey: The information is as follows.
	Action on ICT skills
	The Government recognise the importance of the ICT sector to the economy and are working closely with partners in education and industry to tackle the skills shortages. There are no quick fixes. We have committed £8 million between 2000–03 to a joint DfES/DTI work programme aimed at improving:
	the image of ICT and encouraging more people to pursue a career in the sector. This aims to show people that ICT jobs are rewarding and can provide valued career paths.
	links between education and industry to ensure that new recruits have the skills employers require and that there is an on-going dialogue about skill needs, training priorities and the respective roles and responsibilities of business and providers.
	understanding of the labour market, changing skill needs and skills deficiencies within ICT and improving the quality of our intelligence available for planning education and training provision and alleviating skills problems.
	Examples of specific projects include:
	An employer-led project to create accessible, industry-wide careers information.
	A new labour market forecasting model, which can inform partners of skill needs on an on-going basis.
	Help for companies to broaden their recruitment practices to encourage more candidates from under represented groups, and graduates from other disciplines into the industry. Major employers of ICT professionals have supported the project.
	Developing a co-ordinated campaign to promote the positive aspects of careers in ICT occupations. The e-skills NTO has established an Employers Charter for companies committed to supporting the campaign. Activities include work on:
	Development of work experience opportunities for students and women returners
	Feasibility of establishing school computer clubs for girls
	Identification of positive role models from industry. ICT Labour Market Information
	The Department has recently sponsored and supported the largest survey of employers of ICT professionals undertaken. The recently published report (e-skills NTO, 2001) reports on hard-to-fill vacancies, skill shortage vacancies and skill gaps among IT professionals both within and outside the IT sector. Some of the information is reported by job role, where there is sufficient information to do so, eg the survey reports an estimated 3,000 hard-to-fill vacancies among software development professionals in the UK. Occupations and job roles assessed within the survey do not specifically match those cited in the question.
	The Department has also funded a comprehensive review and assessment of the evidence on the supply of and demand for skills in Information and Communication Technology. This includes assessment of specific skills required and shortages of, earnings trends and scenarios of the likely future balance of the demand for, and supply of, employment in the sector.
	The Department recognises the rapid rate of change in the sector and among these professionals and is supporting the development of a quarterly e-skills bulletin. The bulletin will update the above information by reporting on data from the Labour Force Survey and other published sources to assess trends of skill needs.
	ILA Replacement Scheme
	There will be a replacement ILA-type scheme building on the strengths of the ILA and taking into account the findings of the current stakeholder consultation exercise which are due in early April. At this stage it is too early to say what the curriculum focus of the replacement scheme will be.
	The Secretary of State has no plans to meet with computer training companies.

Industrial Training (Train Drivers)

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many train drivers (a) are working in the industry, (b) are being trained, (c) have been trained since November 1998, (d) have been trained and have begun working in the industry since November 1998 and (e) have left the rail industry since November 1998.

John Healey: The employment of drivers and their training is the responsibility of train operating companies. The Progress Report on Delivering the Framework for Skills in the Rail Industry, published in December 2001, shows that in July 2001 there were 19,000 train drivers working in the industry. Government do not hold information on the training of drivers and their turnover rates centrally. To collect the information could be achieved only by incurring disproportionate cost.

Skill Shortages (Railway Industry)

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to address skill shortages within the railway industry.

John Healey: In October 2000 my predecessor the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Lifelong Learning wrote to the Chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) proposing that we work together to push skills up the agenda of the rail industry. In March 2001 a joint working group published the "Framework for Skills for the Rail Industry" setting out a strategy for skills. In December 2001 the working group published a progress report setting out challenging targets for the uptake of Investors in People, National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (NVQs and SVQs) and Modern Apprenticeships. In February 2002 I announced Government funding of £500,000 for new "Adult Apprenticeships" to be piloted in the rail industry to tackle significant skill shortages. The joint working group will publish a further report on progress in June 2002.

School Travel

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on the maximum distance a child in Key Stage 2 should travel to school.

John Healey: There is no maximum specified for the distance a child in any of the Key Stages should travel to school. Parents have a right to express a preference for any school; their preferences are not restricted by distance.

School Absences

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many authorised absences there were in (a) maintained primary schools and (b) maintained secondary schools, broken down by each local education authority, in each year since 1996–97.

Ivan Lewis: The number of half days missed due to authorised absences in (a) maintained primary schools and (b) maintained secondary schools by each local education authority in England since 1996–97 are shown in the following table.
	
		Number of half days missed due to authorised absence in maintained primary schools and maintained secondary schools 1997–2001 -- Thousand
		
			   Maintained primary schools  
			  1996–97(26) 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 London, City of 4.1 1.3 2.6 3.2 3.1 
			 Camden 185.8 192.8 183.8 180.2 188.9 
			 Greenwich 285.2 294.5 287.8 281.1 288.2 
			 Hackney 320.8 291.6 252.6 257.9 277.5 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 147.8 134.9 147.9 149.1 147.7 
			 Islington 255.7 239.7 220.4 214.2 219.8 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 103.6 96.7 101.2 85.5 109.3 
			 Lambeth 265.5 306.9 268.7 244.1 258.7 
			 Lewisham 283.9 307.7 264.4 276.9 278.4 
			 Southwark 305.9 305.9 270.9 257.6 281.7 
			 Tower Hamlets 356.6 312.8 271.1 303.3 320.4 
			 Wandsworth 275.4 262.8 250.1 263.0 257.3 
			 Westminster, City of 153.2 176.9 149.0 131.8 154.4 
			 Barking and Dagenham 261.2 269.5 261.6 248.8 264.3 
			 Barnet 366.8 364.6 345.2 329.0 366.9 
			 Bexley 308.2 331.2 312.1 285.7 322.9 
			 Brent 260.2 278.7 307.0 308.4 323.4 
			 Bromley 348.2 348.6 336.6 318.5 337.5 
			 Croydon 438.7 451.5 450.5 431.5 479.2 
			 Ealing 416.0 406.1 401.5 389.2 395.1 
			 Enfield 397.4 380.0 356.2 334.8 353.6 
			 Haringey 269.3 279.6 271.0 247.0 280.8 
			 Harrow 318.1 325.7 299.3 287.4 305.1 
			 Havering 325.6 316.4 307.8 297.2 322.2 
			 Hillingdon 358.0 322.2 318.6 330.9 342.5 
			 Hounslow 306.3 326.9 309.0 273.6 269.8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 151.1 150.5 147.8 132.9 158.6 
			 Merton 220.7 230.6 238.5 231.0 230.6 
			 Newham 416.2 389.1 363.6 365.2 386.6 
			 Redbridge 312.7 315.3 316.5 291.7 330.8 
			 Richmond upon Thames 155.6 162.8 161.4 152.6 173.2 
			 Sutton 211.0 209.5 199.3 195.2 202.0 
			 Waltham Forest 334.1 337.9 329.3 303.6 332.4 
			 Birmingham 2,046.8 1,825.7 1,716.9 1,566.8 1,615.7 
			 Coventry 452.5 482.8 438.3 429.6 453.8 
			 Dudley 437.8 454.4 449.6 411.3 433.4 
			 Sandwell 529.8 519.9 508.4 487.0 522.9 
			 Solihull 341.4 328.2 314.9 258.1 269.9 
			 Walsall 426.8 460.7 400.4 398.6 437.4 
			 Wolverhampton 464.9 409.2 401.6 383.2 389.0 
			 Knowsley 304.8 292.1 281.5 259.1 266.0 
			 Liverpool 764.3 730.2 707.9 677.5 691.9 
			 St. Helens 318.6 257.2 284.7 262.3 271.0 
			 Sefton 392.0 409.3 398.2 364.6 377.0 
			 Wirral 411.0 446.9 444.4 423.5 442.6 
			 Bolton 397.4 392.2 387.5 338.3 353.4 
			 Bury 239.7 244.2 241.4 208.5 222.3 
			 Manchester 799.8 788.9 790.3 672.7 667.5 
			 Oldham 381.4 393.1 367.2 331.2 368.6 
			 Rochdale 306.3 336.7 348.0 297.1 315.1 
			 Salford 319.6 352.3 347.4 315.6 340.0 
			 Stockport 326.5 365.9 348.7 316.0 337.8 
			 Tameside 356.2 373.3 352.8 308.3 314.6 
			 Trafford 274.1 310.0 274.4 248.3 243.0 
			 Wigan 451.5 465.9 464.9 407.8 435.9 
			 Barnsley 300.7 316.9 335.0 290.9 305.3 
			 Doncaster 453.1 472.6 455.8 456.6 450.4 
			 Rotherham 361.7 392.2 383.1 361.0 369.4 
			 Sheffield 609.8 666.7 630.0 646.5 681.1 
			 Bradford 510.0 498.5 479.6 537.0 671.5 
			 Calderdale 266.6 282.5 258.3 238.2 266.1 
			 Kirklees 478.5 493.5 478.1 440.2 471.2 
			 Leeds 896.8 978.6 965.3 875.1 926.6 
			 Wakefield 421.7 462.4 420.9 418.1 442.2 
			 Gateshead 249.3 248.8 254.9 223.3 241.9 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 309.6 297.9 283.1 275.9 291.2 
			 North Tyneside 208.8 207.8 195.3 189.5 211.3 
			 South Tyneside 206.8 214.6 209.0 195.9 213.9 
			 Sunderland 455.2 442.5 429.7 382.7 427.4 
			 Isles of Scilly 2.2 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.8 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 159.7 169.5 166.3 158.2 168.8 
			 Bristol, City of 476.0 480.0 501.9 461.1 515.4 
			 North Somerset 188.0 201.2 196.2 200.6 219.8 
			 South Gloucestershire 285.8 301.1 308.6 288.6 336.9 
			 Hartlepool 150.7 150.0 140.9 121.4 137.2 
			 Middlesbrough 244.5 248.1 250.1 215.9 226.1 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 232.3 241.5 222.8 188.2 210.7 
			 Stockton on Tees 289.5 290.6 273.0 237.0 279.7 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 417.9 487.3 378.2 371.1 358.0 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 339.2 361.8 333.2 343.6 366.2 
			 North East Lincolnshire 231.9 255.2 226.8 214.2 229.4 
			 North Lincolnshire 185.4 212.2 203.5 185.1 194.5 
			 North Yorkshire 539.3 596.8 551.4 537.7 601.6 
			 York, City of 166.4 182.5 175.3 152.3 171.4 
			 Bedfordshire 300.1 342.6 304.5 296.2 328.7 
			 Luton 306.6 298.3 289.9 266.6 317.2 
			 Buckinghamshire 633.1 615.3 555.5 488.2 507.6 
			 Milton Keynes 359.1 363.9 337.4 330.6 344.6 
			 Derbyshire 798.8 864.8 840.9 830.9 860.4 
			 Derby City 271.0 315.1 290.9 295.8 311.2 
			 Dorset 339.1 382.1 340.0 320.7 343.5 
			 Poole 222.3 176.1 163.2 156.6 167.6 
			 Bournemouth 171.3 208.1 151.9 143.5 160.8 
			 Durham 704.6 759.0 707.4 659.3 687.5 
			 Darlington 168.1 155.6 158.9 142.3 172.5 
			 East Sussex 484.4 521.0 511.6 542.4 579.8 
			 Brighton and Hove 257.8 270.0 261.4 256.5 302.3 
			 Hampshire 1,370.2 1,373.7 1,303.9 1,237.1 1,356.9 
			 Portsmouth 262.6 277.8 242.0 217.9 227.1 
			 Southampton 278.5 292.2 296.4 259.3 306.7 
			 Leicestershire 731.7 787.2 713.0 659.2 720.7 
			 Leicester City 597.6 561.3 530.4 434.6 457.4 
			 Rutland 29.7 35.6 28.0 27.9 27.8 
			 Staffordshire 953.6 933.7 928.2 891.0 934.9 
			 Stoke on Trent 366.6 368.1 352.8 317.3 315.0 
			 Wiltshire 430.4 429.1 449.6 466.8 456.3 
			 Swindon 229.7 267.5 239.6 241.8 238.1 
			 Bracknell Forest n/a 130.4 124.9 102.9 125.1 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead n/a 123.2 110.1 110.1 112.4 
			 West Berkshire n/a 164.5 151.9 145.3 163.5 
			 Reading n/a 159.7 160.2 155.9 151.1 
			 Slough n/a 170.9 173.3 175.5 176.8 
			 Wokingham n/a 160.7 152.9 138.1 156.8 
			 Cambridgeshire n/a 551.9 575.9 551.9 648.6 
			 Peterborough City n/a 250.5 236.7 205.0 239.0 
			 Cheshire n/a 721.5 720.0 647.3 728.4 
			 Halton n/a 184.2 177.1 166.1 179.5 
			 Warrington n/a 248.1 242.8 225.1 237.5 
			 Devon n/a 814.8 824.0 748.5 832.9 
			 Plymouth n/a 320.8 317.3 278.8 302.1 
			 Torbay n/a 155.0 153.0 141.3 155.2 
			 Essex n/a 1,621.7 1,585.2 1,507.6 1,629.3 
			 Southend-on-Sea n/a 196.4 203.9 201.7 227.0 
			 Thurrock n/a 206.5 210.7 208.3 223.0 
			 Herefordshire n/a 203.2 187.3 188.7 216.4 
			 Worcestershire n/a 555.0 518.6 491.6 538.6 
			 Kent n/a 1,657.3 1,555.1 1,525.9 1,654.6 
			 Medway n/a 364.8 372.0 359.1 353.9 
			 Lancashire n/a 1,467.0 1,445.5 1,387.1 1,382.4 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a 262.5 248.2 232.1 236.3 
			 Blackpool n/a 208.7 201.1 188.8 197.2 
			 Nottinghamshire n/a 880.6 856.7 820.5 870.4 
			 Nottingham City n/a 410.5 411.8 397.9 406.8 
			 Shropshire n/a 303.3 297.7 291.4 336.5 
			 Telford and Wrekin n/a 227.3 208.8 207.0 216.4 
			 Cornwall 586.8 613.8 596.5 585.3 625.4 
			 Cumbria 582.0 615.9 619.8 568.4 597.4 
			 Gloucestershire 653.3 636.7 601.1 573.9 615.2 
			 Hertfordshire 1,046.9 1,129.5 1,137.6 1,059.7 1,163.4 
			 Isle of Wight 109.0 125.1 110.5 111.8 113.1 
			 Lincolnshire 674.4 709.5 716.4 713.4 717.7 
			 Norfolk 914.8 959.1 963.3 948.0 978.7 
			 Northamptonshire 652.6 696.6 651.8 617.1 707.2 
			 Northumberland 223.3 254.6 232.6 217.0 247.2 
			 Oxfordshire 566.2 640.6 615.6 604.1 653.6 
			 Somerset 541.6 533.6 526.0 507.0 571.9 
			 Suffolk 573.0 586.4 545.5 552.9 620.8 
			 Surrey 1,020.2 1,102.3 1,061.6 984.2 1,083.6 
			 Warwickshire 601.0 638.4 577.9 564.8 578.8 
			 West Sussex 854.3 945.1 868.9 836.7 922.8 
			 England 61,521.2 63,422.8 60,926.5 57,702.8 61,738.9 
		
	
	
		
			   Maintained secondary schools  
			  1996–97(26) 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 London, City of — — — — — 
			 Camden 242.8 208.6 209.3 205.2 207.4 
			 Greenwich 354.9 324.8 313.2 332.1 354.5 
			 Hackney 176.2 172.1 174.8 157.8 180.5 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 139.3 114.9 143.8 123.4 155.9 
			 Islington 186.9 184.2 182.1 181.9 195.1 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 65.9 64.4 61.6 59.7 59.0 
			 Lambeth 177.8 176.0 177.6 174.0 179.7 
			 Lewisham 255.1 258.7 251.0 252.3 263.7 
			 Southwark 230.1 228.5 228.3 229.9 239.9 
			 Tower Hamlets 281.4 264.1 281.6 254.0 266.0 
			 Wandsworth 197.5 203.4 204.3 218.3 221.7 
			 Westminster, City of 133.4 156.5 144.5 153.7 170.1 
			 Barking and Dagenham 234.1 232.1 247.9 245.9 265.2 
			 Barnet 379.7 377.2 410.5 359.6 400.6 
			 Bexley 314.4 346.2 350.6 378.0 408.9 
			 Brent 258.2 250.8 246.5 258.3 256.5 
			 Bromley 357.6 364.0 394.6 388.9 433.7 
			 Croydon 363.1 403.7 399.8 370.6 448.5 
			 Ealing 279.2 275.1 302.1 302.1 313.6 
			 Enfield 375.7 380.7 356.5 366.1 400.1 
			 Haringey 210.4 235.8 231.1 218.7 222.5 
			 Harrow 197.3 211.9 200.7 203.7 213.7 
			 Havering 321.9 278.5 327.1 334.2 364.8 
			 Hillingdon 304.6 301.5 299.4 308.2 356.8 
			 Hounslow 308.3 327.4 296.0 303.6 307.3 
			 Kingston upon Thames 154.9 159.2 156.6 146.0 162.1 
			 Merton 186.3 170.0 185.2 194.5 203.1 
			 Newham 371.6 346.8 317.9 314.7 316.2 
			 Redbridge 340.6 306.3 329.6 314.6 309.2 
			 Richmond upon Thames 210.8 181.5 193.4 187.4 194.4 
			 Sutton 224.7 218.6 235.6 226.5 255.2 
			 Waltham Forest 275.2 261.3 283.2 294.3 267.8 
			 Birmingham 1,763.0 1,624.9 1,664.1 1,487.9 1,505.7 
			 Coventry 478.2 470.8 467.9 489.6 503.6 
			 Dudley 432.1 352.5 432.7 434.9 463.7 
			 Sandwell 526.4 511.4 530.0 538.4 580.4 
			 Solihull 279.4 301.1 319.7 297.0 324.3 
			 Walsall 545.7 494.2 500.2 492.6 517.0 
			 Wolverhampton 423.8 368.5 377.8 385.6 392.5 
			 Knowsley 302.7 278.2 296.3 279.7 291.0 
			 Liverpool 908.5 905.2 897.8 873.4 862.9 
			 St. Helens 270.9 283.2 268.7 257.0 288.0 
			 Sefton 459.8 445.2 453.8 431.5 442.6 
			 Wirral 509.5 549.4 573.1 541.5 537.5 
			 Bolton 395.7 414.8 408.6 398.6 410.8 
			 Bury 254.0 231.5 273.8 252.5 269.7 
			 Manchester 847.3 822.1 835.5 757.5 806.4 
			 Oldham 436.5 406.7 409.3 384.4 386.6 
			 Rochdale 341.8 337.7 356.7 326.0 376.9 
			 Salford 399.5 392.0 392.4 364.6 394.5 
			 Stockport 364.3 322.8 367.3 359.8 372.9 
			 Tameside 333.1 357.3 369.4 352.8 364.7 
			 Trafford 283.9 303.9 306.4 285.0 263.3 
			 Wigan 525.6 512.0 529.5 500.7 512.3 
			 Barnsley 348.1 320.1 351.8 350.8 374.1 
			 Doncaster 530.7 556.0 525.8 517.1 516.3 
			 Rotherham 435.8 445.2 465.0 436.2 447.6 
			 Sheffield 734.7 729.4 730.4 759.3 743.1 
			 Bradford 999.1 969.4 948.7 811.5 708.6 
			 Calderdale 315.3 320.0 314.7 303.7 322.1 
			 Kirklees 594.0 550.6 557.2 509.3 520.9 
			 Leeds 1,009.1 1,006.7 1,031.2 1,011.4 1,042.7 
			 Wakefield 451.7 482.9 467.0 456.3 509.3 
			 Gateshead 318.8 290.2 299.8 282.9 276.2 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 500.2 503.7 491.4 462.3 466.3 
			 North Tyneside 311.2 307.9 293.3 278.3 295.7 
			 South Tyneside 267.0 277.9 293.7 278.4 299.4 
			 Sunderland 528.0 512.5 490.1 484.3 506.6 
			 Isles of Scilly 1.4 1.8 1.5 1.4 2.4 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 200.0 212.5 241.1 231.6 244.0 
			 Bristol, City of 470.9 469.7 531.0 475.5 498.8 
			 North Somerset 226.0 219.7 230.1 235.3 258.9 
			 South Gloucestershire 293.2 279.9 315.3 283.2 308.6 
			 Hartlepool 148.9 120.3 138.9 142.2 151.7 
			 Middlesbrough 304.7 258.2 278.0 261.2 274.0 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 293.6 226.6 271.1 237.2 269.4 
			 Stockton on Tees 312.6 311.0 298.6 276.9 300.3 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 564.0 526.5 517.7 486.9 478.4 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 381.1 432.0 429.2 432.9 449.7 
			 North East Lincolnshire 279.9 289.2 302.7 275.5 301.2 
			 North Lincolnshire 231.0 226.6 248.2 253.4 239.6 
			 North Yorkshire 665.4 641.0 693.0 700.5 790.7 
			 York, City of 202.7 136.3 152.1 155.6 189.3 
			 Bedfordshire 603.9 613.6 635.6 647.3 723.7 
			 Luton 244.8 223.9 276.4 258.9 299.0 
			 Buckinghamshire 456.2 431.5 534.5 541.5 540.1 
			 Milton Keynes 279.0 271.8 279.3 276.4 304.8 
			 Derbyshire 893.9 833.5 926.1 913.2 997.5 
			 Derby City 318.4 311.8 341.7 327.4 330.6 
			 Dorset 530.0 515.3 525.6 540.3 591.1 
			 Poole 159.1 161.6 161.4 143.8 157.3 
			 Bournemouth 194.1 190.9 195.2 191.2 220.1 
			 Durham 855.5 803.2 777.5 745.9 760.0 
			 Darlington 160.6 160.3 133.7 135.9 160.5 
			 East Sussex 555.5 510.0 586.4 578.1 623.4 
			 Brighton and Hove 278.2 234.2 244.2 212.3 282.5 
			 Hampshire 1,375.0 1,262.3 1,374.2 1,339.9 1,475.6 
			 Portsmouth 274.3 262.0 252.5 249.7 280.9 
			 Southampton 312.3 276.3 295.7 304.3 315.1 
			 Leicestershire 857.8 821.3 847.7 784.7 819.6 
			 Leicester City 481.7 413.4 419.2 341.1 387.5 
			 Rutland 42.4 45.3 39.3 40.2 44.6 
			 Staffordshire 1,179.3 1,141.8 1,176.9 1,187.0 1,216.0 
			 Stoke on Trent 409.1 370.3 396.1 366.5 346.8 
			 Wiltshire 491.6 511.4 519.3 509.9 546.5 
			 Swindon 284.4 282.3 291.5 279.9 302.3 
			 Bracknell Forest n/a 81.7 126.0 115.4 123.7 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead n/a 169.4 175.1 185.8 196.2 
			 West Berkshire n/a 179.6 202.9 199.5 214.8 
			 Reading n/a 112.4 127.0 128.8 132.0 
			 Slough n/a 115.1 135.8 150.1 142.0 
			 Wokingham n/a 167.7 178.5 173.5 191.7 
			 Cambridgeshire n/a 624.6 635.1 623.6 687.0 
			 Peterborough City n/a 274.4 275.0 274.7 284.5 
			 Cheshire n/a 827.4 827.8 809.9 881.7 
			 Halton n/a 208.4 225.2 208.9 227.5 
			 Warrington n/a 262.1 277.1 286.0 307.6 
			 Devon n/a 793.5 817.2 835.1 910.9 
			 Plymouth n/a 337.8 360.5 372.9 397.7 
			 Torbay n/a 198.7 192.5 177.9 179.1 
			 Essex n/a 1,642.9 1,734.1 1,763.8 1,862.0 
			 Southend-on-Sea n/a 216.2 229.3 227.3 229.5 
			 Thurrock n/a 208.4 215.2 205.1 216.9 
			 Herefordshire n/a 203.0 190.9 183.9 219.1 
			 Worcestershire n/a 784.3 793.8 785.2 857.6 
			 Kent n/a 1,718.2 1,810.9 1,768.4 1,854.5 
			 Medway n/a 384.6 417.7 392.2 413.6 
			 Lancashire n/a 1,514.9 1,717.6 1,666.7 1,710.1 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a 248.9 261.3 228.4 232.0 
			 Blackpool n/a 196.8 215.7 213.3 232.2 
			 Nottinghamshire n/a 1,023.9 1,106.7 1,087.9 1,051.6 
			 Nottingham City n/a 376.0 365.0 384.7 414.6 
			 Shropshire n/a 317.5 330.0 333.7 375.8 
			 Telford and Wrekin n/a 249.4 254.7 231.7 253.8 
			 Cornwall 669.5 669.0 727.2 697.2 788.0 
			 Cumbria 686.9 692.3 726.4 663.3 712.3 
			 Gloucestershire 720.3 749.6 722.2 692.0 755.4 
			 Hertfordshire 1,299.7 1,254.4 1,335.7 1,309.7 1,421.4 
			 Isle of Wight 232.2 258.4 248.4 253.2 263.4 
			 Lincolnshire 796.5 740.3 800.7 819.8 888.4 
			 Norfolk 976.8 883.4 971.9 919.6 1,018.0 
			 Northamptonshire 918.7 932.4 960.5 964.8 1,096.7 
			 Northumberland 591.7 560.0 567.1 551.4 607.2 
			 Oxfordshire 425.7 708.5 660.0 670.1 701.1 
			 Somerset 601.0 601.4 632.5 653.7 691.6 
			 Suffolk 916.9 878.6 927.7 958.3 1,085.3 
			 Surrey 1,006.2 1,050.9 1,056.2 1,048.0 1,065.3 
			 Warwickshire 629.6 650.3 644.5 631.1 670.9 
			 West Sussex 829.2 781.8 841.1 834.8 938.5 
			 England 67,469.6 65,791.2 68,326.9 66,536.6 70,476.2 
		
	
	(26) As a result of local government reorganisation in 1998, figures for the new areas are not available for 1996–97, although the totals are included in the England figures.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by her and her predecessors since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Estelle Morris: holding answer 25 March 2002
	No unpaid appointments, as defined in paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code, have been made in this Department or its predecessors since June 1997.
	For details of unpaid appointments made by this Department to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I refer the right hon. Member to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie), on 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 958W.

Education (Newcastle)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will place the draft education development plan for 2002–03 onwards that she has received from Newcastle upon Tyne city council in the Library.

Stephen Timms: I am placing a copy of the plan submitted by Newcastle upon Tyne city council on 31 January in the Library as my hon. Friend requests. The plan was approved by the Secretary of State on 25 March.

Education (Newcastle)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) maths achievement was to level 2 at Key Stage 1, what the level 4 attainments were at Key Stage 2 and what the level 5 achievement at Key Stage 3, in the city of Newcastle in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001; and what the national average figures were for those years.

Ivan Lewis: The following table shows the percentage of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 tests in Newcastle upon Tyne LEA and England in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
	
		
			   1999  2000  2001(27)  
			  Newcastle England Newcastle England Newcastle England 
		
		
			  Key Stage 1—Percentage of pupils achieving Level 2 or above 
			 Reading 81 82 82 83 81 84 
			 Writing 81 83 84 84 84 86 
			 Maths 87 87 90 90 89 91 
			
			  Key Stage 2—Percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 or above 
			 English 61 71 68 75 65 75 
			 Reading 69 78 78 83 71 82 
			 Writing 47 54 47 55 51 58 
			 Mathematics 60 69 65 72 62 71 
			 Science 72 78 81 85 82 87 
			
			  Key Stage 3—Percentage of pupils achieving Level 5 or above 
			 English(28) 52 64 53 64 57 64 
			 Mathematics 52 62 54 65 56 66 
			 Science 43 55 47 59 56 66 
		
	
	(27) 2001 data are provisional
	(28) Reading and writing are not separately assessed at Key Stage 3, so the overall figure for English is provided

Education (Newcastle)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the Ofsted reports for schools, the LEA and other agencies in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne for (a) 2000 and (b) 2001; and what programme of Ofsted reports has been agreed for (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003.

Stephen Timms: These are matters for HM Chief Inspector of Schools. I have therefore asked Mike Tomlinson to write to my hon. Friend and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.

Education (Newcastle)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students achieved (a) five GCSE grades A to C, (b) one grade A to C and (c) one graded A to E and average GCSE point score in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in (i) 1998, (ii) 1999, (iii) 2000 and (iv) 2001; and what the equivalent national average achievements were for those years.

Ivan Lewis: The percentages of pupils that achieved the stated qualifications are as follows.
	
		
			  1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
			  Percentage of 15-year-old pupils that achieved: 
			 5 or more grades A*-C 31.0 33.6 35.0 36.8 
			 1 or more grades A*-C 55.7 57.1 58.7 60.4 
			 1 or more grades A*-E 81.0 81.6 81.8 81.2 
			 Average GCSE/GNVQ point score 29.5 30.5 31.5 32.1 
			  
			 England 
			  Percentage of 15-year-old pupils that achieved: 
			 5 or more grades A*-C 46.3 47.9 49.2 50.0 
			 1 or more grades A*-C 71.4 72.6 73.6 74.0 
			 1 or more grades A*-E 89.3 90.0 90.6 90.6 
			 Average GCSE/GNVQ point score 37.0 38.1 38.9 39.3

Education (Newcastle)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the education budget for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne (a) was in 2000–01, (b) was in 2001–02 and (c) will be for 2002–03; what the education SSA was for that local education authority in those years; and in each case what the budget is as a percentage of SSA.

Stephen Timms: The following table provides the latest available information:
	
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Budget (£ million) 111.5 117.5 
			 SSA (£ million) 114.6 118.0 
			 Budget as percentage of SSA 97 100 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. 2001–02 Budget data obtained from s52 Budget statement table. Budget figures are net of grant income and also include capital expenditure from the revenue account (CERA).
	Information for 2002–03 is not yet available and it is not possible to give a projection of what it may be.

Faith Schools

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on which faiths should be permitted to set up state schools.

Stephen Timms: We do not have, nor would it be appropriate to have, a policy on which faiths should be permitted to set up state schools. Any promoter can bring forward statutory proposals to set up a maintained school. Faith school promoters have to go through the same procedures and satisfy the same conditions as others. The decision whether to accept proposals rests with the local School Organisation Committee, or with the Schools Adjudicator if the committee cannot agree. In addition, under the Education Bill, it will be possible for proposals for a new faith school to be among those brought forward in response to a notice from the LEA inviting proposals for an additional secondary school and any such proposals would be decided by the Secretary of State.
	The Secretary of State, Schools Organisation Committees and the Schools Adjudicator will want to see evidence of clear local agreement for a proposal. The White Paper "Schools: Achieving Success" made clear that decisions to establish faith schools should take account of the interests of all sections of the community.

Faith Schools

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what inspections take place to ensure that faith schools teach about faiths other than their own.

Stephen Timms: Inspections of faith schools under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 cover religious education except in the case of those voluntary and foundation schools which are designated as having a religious character and provide denominational education. Section 23 of the Act requires those schools to arrange a separate inspection of denominational education. There is no requirement that reports of those inspections refer to the extent to which schools provide education about faiths other than their own.
	From September, citizenship education, including teaching about different faiths and cultures, will become a statutory part of the secondary school curriculum. As now, inspectors will be required to evaluate and report on whether schools meet their statutory requirements.

School Places

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the availability of school places at schools in the Ribble Valley.

Stephen Timms: The supply of school places in the Ribble Valley is a matter for Lancashire local education authority (LEA). LEAs have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places available for children in their areas. Where LEAs can demonstrate a need for additional places they can apply to the Department for support.
	Lancashire LEA plans additional secondary places in the area, in particular through a new 10-classroom block at Ribblesdale High School, which has a planned opening date of September 2002.

Teacher Recruitment

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers her Department aims to recruit from countries where (a) the majority of the population live on less than $1 a day and (b) the majority of the population live on less than $2 a day.

Stephen Timms: None. The Government do not themselves recruit teachers, so they do not seek any particular level of overseas recruitment.
	Local education authorities, schools and supply teacher agencies in the private sector may recruit from overseas, although we do not encourage it in developing nations where there is likely to be an adverse effect on the economy. My Department shares the aspirations of the Department for International Development outlined in their White Paper "Eliminating World Poverty: Making Globalisation Work for the Poor".
	Overseas-trained teachers who do choose to come and work in our schools make an important contribution. Many will stay for limited periods, and can in any event teach for no more than four years here without acquiring Qualified Teacher Status. They may then return, taking back with them to their home country valuable practical teaching experience.

Stress

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she has taken to combat work-related stress in the teaching profession.

Stephen Timms: We have taken a number of steps designed to ease the work pressures of teachers. We have asked the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) to make recommendations on workload by the end of April, taking into account the independent study of workload we commissioned last year from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The STRB report will cover a range of possible contractual changes, including whether it is possible to move to a meaningful guarantee of professional time for teachers and headteachers.
	Extra money in school budgets will provide 10,000 more teachers, 20,000 more support staff and 1,000 more trained bursars over the lifetime of this Parliament. We have announced a £4 million project for 30 schools to try new approaches to the deployment of teachers, support staff and ICT to reduce workload. We have also allocated an extra £50 million for capital projects to improve staff workspaces.
	We recognise that poor behaviour is a major contributor to teacher stress. We are developing a number of measures to tackle this—including a consultation on new guidance on exclusions that will lead to improvements that could remove a significant barrier to effective teaching and learning.
	We have supported the setting-up of an independent 24-hour telephone counselling helpline for teachers, operated by the "teacher support network".

Disability Discrimination Act

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance she has given to schools on the implications for them of the Disability Discrimination Act 1999.

Ivan Lewis: Part IV of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as amended by the SEN and Disability Act 2001, will apply to schools from September 2002. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has produced a Code of Practice for the schools sector to help those affected by the new legislation understand their rights and responsibilities. The DRC consulted on a draft Code last year and, subject to Parliamentary approval, it is expected that the code will be published in early summer.
	The Department is producing guidance for schools and local education authorities on the duty to plan to increase over time the accessibility of schools to disabled pupils. the Department has consulted on draft guidance and the final guidance will be published in early summer.

School Transport

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if her Department will issue guidance on the age at which children can be expected to use public transport unaccompanied to travel to school.

John Healey: It would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to issue guidance on the age at which children can be expected to use public transport to travel unaccompanied to school. This is a decision which parents are best placed to make, taking into consideration local circumstances.

Sixth Forms

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on balancing arrangements for the new structure for sixth-form funding proposed by county councils; and which authorities have made similar proposals.

Ivan Lewis: Many LEAs are still finalising their arrangements for funding in 2002–03. We require all LEAs to ensure that school sixth forms that stand to gain from the LSC's funding formula receive at least one third of the difference between their real terms guarantee figure and their actual LSC allocation.
	Surrey county council has received approval for an "additional arrangement" which follows these requirements but also includes transitional arrangements to provide a cash guarantee related to the funding which would have been payable under Surrey's own funding formula.

Truancy

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were found to be truant each year since 1997; if she will make a statement on truancy and measures planned and introduced to combat it; and what is done with children that are consistently truant from school despite action taken.

Ivan Lewis: The table gives the number of children who had one or more sessions (half-days) of unauthorised absence in each year since 1997. Unauthorised absence includes all absences that the school has decided not to approve.
	
		Thousand 
		
			 Academic year(29) Number of pupils with at least one session of unauthorised absence Total number of compulsory school age pupils 
		
		
			 1996–97 1,015.0. 7,011.8 
			 1997–98 1,065.2 6,977.3 
			 1998–99 1,114.4 7,071.6 
			 1999–2000 1,124.7 7,102.3 
			 2000–01 1,171.2 7,176.2 
		
	
	(29) Information is collected from schools for the period from September to May
	We have put into place a package of measures that help schools to set a tough clear policy on truancy including all of the measures recommended in the Social Exclusion Unit's report 'Truancy and School Exclusion' in 1998. We are providing more support than ever before to schools and local education authorities to tackle attendance and behaviour problems; over three years we have provided in excess of £500 million to support local projects.
	Improving school attendance is a key aim for the new Connexions Service; personal advisers provide support to young people disengaged from education, helping to reduce barriers to attending school regularly. Learning Mentors in Excellence in Cities areas have an important role in securing good relations between school and home, fostering a positive attitude to learning on the part of families and helping them to support their children.

Policy Making

Phil Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the results of the consultation of young people will be taken into cross-departmental policy making processes.

Ivan Lewis: We have involved young people in many of the Department's initiatives including consulting pupils on the Education White Paper and engaging young people in the development of the Connexions Service. We are currently consulting them on our 14–19 proposals. Involving children and young people is an important part of the Department's commitment to understanding its customers and supporting better delivery of its policies and services. We will launch an action plan at the end of May, reflecting that commitment and the core principles on participation published by the Children and Young People's Unit in "Learning to Listen". We are putting in place a central point of advice as a focus for raising awareness, sharing practice and promoting the benefits of participation across the whole Department.

Youth Work

Phil Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will be announcing the next stages of implementing 'Transforming Youth Work'.

Ivan Lewis: Implementation of the Transforming Youth Work agenda is already under way. A series of measures were outlined at the Association of Principal Youth and Community Officer's Annual Conference in October 2001. This announcement followed the Government's 'Transforming Youth Work' consultation on the future of the youth service.
	Ministers will make a full and published response to the 'Transforming Youth Work' consultation in July 2002.

Youth Work

Phil Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessments she has made of the role youth work plays in the personal and social development of young people identified by Ofsted as missing from the school system.

Ivan Lewis: The Government's long-term strategy for the Youth Service is described in the March 2001 publication 'Transforming Youth Work'. This set out the Government's view of the Youth Service in England and outlined a programme of modernisation.
	Both the statutory and voluntary youth sectors will play a key role in providing support and personal development for young people. They will continue to work with the education system to provide suitable development opportunities for school pupils.
	The personal and social development provided by the youth services will be particularly important for those who are at risk or who have lost contact with formal education.

Citizenship

Phil Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the Department is considering ways of extending the requirements for citizenship in the national curriculum to include the Youth Service curriculum.

Ivan Lewis: The Youth Service does not have a specific curriculum. In its consultation document, "14–19: extending opportunities, raising standards", the Government have proposed that all young people should participate in active citizenship, wider interests and work-related learning. As part of their agenda for youth services in England, "Transforming Youth Work—Developing Youth Work for Young People", the Government aim to develop innovative youth work projects designed to enhance the engagement of young people in local democratic processes.

School Governance

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance she has given to schools as to the role of pupils in school governance.

Stephen Timms: We have given no guidance to schools on the role of pupils in school governance because under current legislation it is not possible for young people under the age of 18 to become school governors. A young person over the age of 18 may become a governor but under existing regulations cannot be co-opted to serve as a governor at the school they attend. We are currently reviewing our policy in this area, in the light of new regulations we will be drawing up on school governance following the Education Bill.

Employment Rights

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the protection of employment rights for teachers who will transfer to new Private Finance Initiative secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: There is no change to teachers' pay and conditions if their school is included within the scope of a Private Finance Initiative project. Teaching staff do not transfer to the private sector at these schools; they continue to be employed by the local authority or governing body, according to the status of the school.

Examination Papers

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the companies involved in marking examination papers made errors in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many students were affected by mistakes made by examination boards; and how much examination work remains untraced.

Ivan Lewis: The accuracy of the five examination boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJC, and CCA) has been assessed for the summer 2000 A level and GCSE examination series.
	The figures are as follows:
	Out of 774,380 candidate entries at A-level there were 4,505 marking errors discovered during inquiries about results—0.6 per cent. of all papers.
	Out of 5,532,411 candidate entries at GCSE, 6,368 had marking errors discovered during inquiries about results—0.1 per cent. of all papers.
	There are no reliable figures for untraced examination work.

City Academy, Newcastle

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions her officials have had with promoters of a City Academy in the City of Newcastle area; how many promoters have approached her; and whether those discussions are continuing.

Stephen Timms: Discussions have taken place, and are continuing, with a number of potential sponsors to establish City Academies across the country. There has been no formal approach from a partnership (comprising a sponsor and the local education authority) for a City Academy in the City of Newcastle area.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  if she will list the total amount of money spent by Ministers in her Department since its creation on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes;
	(2)  how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: The total cost of entertainment for each of the last five years for this Department is set out as follows:
	
		
			 Year £000 
		
		
			 1997–98 21 
			 1998–99 31 
			 1999–2000 21 
			 2000–01 20 
			 2001–02(30) 11 
		
	
	(30) Provisional
	Note:
	To provide the more detailed information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

Classics

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the maintained secondary schools which offered (a) Latin and (b) Greek at (i) GCSE and (ii) A level in each of the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: The list of maintained secondary schools where pupils had taken (a) Latin and (b) Greek at (i) GCSE and (ii) A level in each of the last five years can be found in the House of Commons Library.

Examinations

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local education authorities were in the (a) first and (b) tenth decile for results at (i) Key Stage 2, (ii) Key Stage 3 and (iii) GCSEs in each year since 1997.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Examinations

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils in England achieving GCSEs in (a) mathematics and (b) English achieved grades A or above in (i) the best performing local education authority and (ii) the worst performing local education authority in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Stephen Timms: (a) The percentage of pupils in England achieving GCSEs in mathematics that achieved grades A or above are:
	(i) The best performing local education authority based on five or more grades A*-C GCSE or GNVQ equivalents is 23 per cent.
	(ii) The worst performing local education authority based on five or more grades A*-C GCSE or GNVQ equivalents is 2.6 per cent.
	(b) The percentages of pupils in England achieving GCSEs in English that achieved grades A or above are:
	(i) The best performing local education authority based on five or more grades A*-C GCSE or GNVQ equivalents is 21.5 per cent.
	(ii) The worst performing local education authority based on five or more grades A*-C GCSE or GNVQ equivalents is 4.3 per cent.

Examinations

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students achieved each grade in GCSE (a) science, (b) English, (c) mathematics and (d) foreign languages examinations prior to reaching school year 11, for every year since 1997.

Ivan Lewis: The percentage of students in schools in England that achieved grade in GCSE (a) science, (b) English, (c) Mathematics and (d) foreign languages examinations prior to reaching final year of compulsory education are shown in the table.
	
		Percentage of pupils that achieved stated grades in GCSE
		
			  A* A B C D E F G U X 
		
		
			 Science   
			 1996–97 19 25 28 14 7 4 1 1 0 1 
			 1997–98 20 23 27 15 8 3 2 1 1 1 
			 1998–99 19 25 22 18 7 3 2 1 1 1 
			 1999–2000 21 24 22 19 7 3 2 1 1 0 
			 2000–01 22 25 18 18 8 3 2 1 1 1 
			
			 English   
			 1996–97 11 30 33 19 3 2 1 0 0 1 
			 1997–98 12 29 31 19 4 2 1 1 0 1 
			 1998–99 13 30 30 19 3 2 2 1 0 1 
			 1999–2000 14 31 29 18 4 2 1 0 0 0 
			 2000–01 14 29 30 17 4 2 1 1 0 0 
			
			 Mathematics   
			 1996–97 21 37 24 12 2 1 1 0 0 1 
			 1997–98 20 39 22 11 3 1 1 0 0 1 
			 1998–99 20 38 23 12 3 2 1 1 1 0 
			 1999–2000 20 35 23 14 4 2 1 1 1 0 
			 2000–01 21 29 21 15 5 3 2 1 1 0 
			
			  Foreign Languages
			 1996–97 30 42 13 7 3 1 1 0 0 1 
			 1997–98 29 41 14 7 3 2 1 1 0 1 
			 1998–99 38 34 14 7 3 1 1 0 0 1 
			 1999–2000 40 32 15 7 3 1 1 0 0 1 
			 2000–01 42 29 15 8 3 1 1 0 0 1

Examinations

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2001, Official Report, column 782W, when she will publish the findings of the inquiry into the early release of the 2001 Key Stage results; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 24 January 2002, Official Report, column 1006W.

Examinations

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what was the average number of exams taken by (a) an 11-year-old, (b) a 14-year-old, (c) a 16-year-old and (d) and 18-year-old throughout their school career to that point, in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: All local education authority maintained schools in England are required to administer the national curriculum tasks/tests for pupils at the end of Key Stage 1 and tests for pupils at the end of Key Stages 2 and 3 in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. Schools may, at their discretion, choose to administer other non-statutory tests in addition to the statutory requirements.
	For GCSE/GNVQ and GCE A/AS/Advanced GNVQ, schools enter pupils for the appropriate subjects; the number of exam papers will vary according to subject and awarding body.
	The table shows the total number of statutory national curriculum test papers in English, mathematics and science which will have been taken by most pupils in the relevant age group; and the average number of GCSE and GCE A/AS and GNVQ examination entries for those age groups. (All ages are at the end of the academic year.)
	
		
			  11-year-old 14-year-old 16-year-old 18-year-old 
		
		
			 1997 13 NC test papers 7 NC test papers 7 NC test papers and 8.2 GCSEs 7 NC test papers and 11.3 GCSEs and GCE A/AS and GNVQs 
			 1998 13 NC test papers 20 NC test papers 7 NC test papers and 8.2 GCSEs 7 NC test papers and 11.3 GCSEs and GCE A/AS and GNVQs 
			 1999 13 NC test papers 20 NC test papers 7 NC test papers and 8.2 GCSEs 7 NC test papers and 11.3 GCSEs and GCE A/AS and GNVQs 
			 2000 13 NC test papers 20 NC test papers 20 NC test papers and 8.2 GCSEs 7 NC test papers and 11.3 GCSEs and GCE A/AS and GNVQs 
			 2001 13 NC test papers 20 NC test papers 20 NC test papers and 8.2 GCSEs 7 NC test papers and 11.3 GCSEs and GCE A/AS and GNVQs 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Key Stage 1 tests for 7-year-olds were introduced nationally in 1991.
	Key Stage 2 tests for 11-year-olds were introduced nationally in 1995.
	Key Stage 3 tests for 14-year-olds were introduced nationally in 1993.
	2. The number of papers taken for GCSE and GCE A/AS and GNVQ vary for each subject.
	3. The increase in the number of national curriculum tests from seven to 20 for 14-year-olds and from seven to 20 for 16-year-olds reflects the fact that they were the cohort who took the first Key Stage 2 tests in 1994–95.

Examinations

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children sat the GCSE (a) science, (b) English and (c) mathematics examination prior to reaching school year 11 in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: The number of pupils that sat the GCSE (a) science, (b) English, (c) mathematics prior to reaching their final year of compulsory education in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority in England, are shown in the table:
	
		Number of pupils(31) that sat GCSEs in science, English and mathematics prior to reaching final year of compulsory education. Maintained secondary schools, including maintained special schools and city technology colleges
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Science  
			 Camden 15 24 11 17 12 
			 Greenwich 1 4 5 8 4 
			 Hackney 5 10 21 9 6 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 6 10 6 5 2 
			 Islington 1 7 6 7 2 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 2 0 4 2 1 
			 Lambeth 3 4 12 4 2 
			 Lewisham 5 3 4 6 3 
			 Southwark 6 14 21 9 43 
			 Tower Hamlets 15 15 13 6 8 
			 Wandsworth 9 9 10 11 6 
			 Westminster 7 8 10 10 9 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1 0 1 2 2 
			 Barnet 21 28 23 17 18 
			 Bexley 14 11 13 12 10 
			 Brent 11 6 3 4 9 
			 Bromley 11 11 7 10 5 
			 Croydon 4 7 4 6 3 
			 Ealing 10 2 5 3 6 
			 Enfield 173 155 129 141 220 
			 Haringey 2 6 9 15 14 
			 Harrow 4 6 2 4 4 
			 Havering 0 3 20 18 3 
			 Hillingdon 3 2 2 3 11 
			 Hounslow 11 10 5 11 8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 4 5 4 3 2 
			 Merton 9 5 3 8 13 
			 Newham 9 1 2 2 1 
			 Redbridge 0 0 3 0 3 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2 5 2 4 2 
			 Sutton 6 3 4 8 9 
			 Waltham Forest 2 14 0 4 1 
			 Birmingham 5 25 49 70 72 
			 Coventry 1 2 21 2 3 
			 Dudley 6 1 4 6 4 
			 Sandwell 0 0 1 0 51 
			 Solihull 1 0 2 0 1 
			 Walsall 0 1 1 0 4 
			 Wolverhampton 2 1 2 1 1 
			 Knowsley 3 1 2 1 34 
			 Liverpool 1 8 89 139 106 
			 St. Helens 0 3 0 0 2 
			 Sefton 2 2 5 2 2 
			 Wirral 1 1 4 0 3 
			 Bolton 5 1 26 21 27 
			 Bury 0 3 2 1 3 
			 Manchester 26 61 41 68 62 
			 Oldham 2 2 0 0 2 
			 Rochdale 3 3 1 6 2 
			 Salford 1 1 1 0 0 
			 Stockport 0 4 0 1 1 
			 Tameside 0 1 0 1 3 
			 Trafford 2 2 7 7 4 
			 Wigan 22 28 28 28 26 
			 Barnsley 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Doncaster 1 1 1 0 0 
			 Rotherham 1 1 4 1 4 
			 Sheffield 32 4 29 21 19 
			 Bradford 12 2 5 6 2 
			 Calderdale 17 14 3 3 1 
			 Kirklees 2 12 12 8 6 
			 Leeds 5 5 2 10 4 
			 Wakefield 0 2 0 1 3 
			 Gateshead 0 0 0 0 2 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 0 0 1 1 22 
			 North Tyneside 2 1 5 1 0 
			 South Tyneside 0 2 1 2 2 
			 Sunderland 1 3 0 1 15 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 2 3 4 3 1 
			 City of Bristol 0 4 3 4 5 
			 North Somerset 4 2 2 4 2 
			 South Gloucestershire 6 4 0 1 3 
			 Hartlepool 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Middlesbrough 0 1 34 39 69 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 1 2 2 1 3 
			 Stockton on Tees 0 2 1 4 3 
			 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 0 3 1 3 2 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 0 1 2 3 
			 North East Lincolnshire 3 3 0 1 1 
			 North Lincolnshire 0 1 17 8 20 
			 North Yorkshire 17 17 27 24 10 
			 York 3 4 4 3 3 
			 Bedfordshire 14 15 12 7 18 
			 Luton 14 1 2 0 0 
			 Buckinghamshire 30 20 29 23 28 
			 Milton Keynes 19 1 1 1 3 
			 Derbyshire 14 9 14 31 8 
			 City of Derby 4 8 1 7 1 
			 Dorset 16 16 8 8 8 
			 Poole 3 5 5 12 10 
			 Bournemouth 8 2 7 5 12 
			 Durham 4 2 2 2 4 
			 Darlington 0 0 2 0 0 
			 East Sussex 23 14 12 20 15 
			 Brighton and Hove 2 19 19 27 27 
			 Hampshire 107 105 140 264 226 
			 Portsmouth 78 51 55 26 29 
			 Southampton 4 6 2 0 2 
			 Leicestershire 8 11 16 3 5 
			 Leicester City 14 3 6 3 1 
			 Rutland 1 0 2 1 0 
			 Staffordshire 13 6 20 16 16 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 4 20 2 58 32 
			 Wiltshire 20 17 21 45 64 
			 Swindon 4 4 6 0 1 
			 Bracknell Forest (32)— 2 2 5 0 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead (32)— 3 7 4 0 
			 Newbury (32)— 9 13 13 3 
			 Reading (32)— 9 7 5 1 
			 Slough (32)— 3 15 6 6 
			 Wokingham (32)— 0 3 2 1 
			 Cambridgeshire (32)— 30 31 34 34 
			 Peterborough (32)— 3 9 5 0 
			 Cheshire (32)— 11 15 4 5 
			 Halton (32)— 1 0 1 0 
			 Warrington (32)— 146 145 129 165 
			 Devon (32)— 17 22 19 17 
			 Plymouth (32)— 5 4 4 4 
			 Torbay (32)— 4 7 6 4 
			 Essex (32)— 46 58 57 72 
			 Southend (32)— 8 6 1 7 
			 Thurrock (32)— 0 1 15 0 
			 Herefordshire (32)— 5 5 6 4 
			 Worcestershire (32)— 24 50 33 38 
			 Kent (32)— 43 37 35 40 
			 Rochester and Gillingham (32)— 3 8 6 13 
			 Lancashire (32)— 12 17 20 17 
			 Blackburn (32)— 3 0 0 1 
			 Blackpool (32)— 0 1 0 1 
			 Nottinghamshire (32)— 22 40 6 10 
			 Nottingham City (32)— 2 1 5 2 
			 Shropshire (32)— 7 44 61 48 
			 The Wrekin (32)— 33 35 1 21 
			 Cornwall 36 32 21 20 39 
			 Cumbria 20 12 166 12 18 
			 Gloucestershire 16 21 24 20 25 
			 Hertfordshire 28 44 46 36 47 
			 Isle of Wight 5 3 3 2 7 
			 Lincolnshire 12 11 18 43 65 
			 Norfolk 19 21 27 21 21 
			 Northamptonshire 13 18 116 122 106 
			 Northumberland 14 21 7 1 2 
			 Oxfordshire 30 29 30 27 28 
			 Somerset 18 29 15 11 16 
			 Suffolk 13 12 14 16 8 
			 Surrey 72 38 43 28 31 
			 Warwickshire 11 10 7 10 2 
			 West Sussex 18 15 17 11 19 
			 Total England 1,791 1,734 2,331 2,298 2,519 
		
	
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 English  
			 Camden 6 19 6 11 9 
			 Greenwich 24 3 4 4 4 
			 Hackney 11 14 7 24 13 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 34 33 29 36 29 
			 Islington 2 7 6 3 3 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3 0 3 2 1 
			 Lambeth 4 4 4 4 3 
			 Lewisham 24 3 5 10 5 
			 Southwark 13 17 5 28 12 
			 Tower Hamlets 2 5 5 5 5 
			 Wandsworth 45 24 37 46 7 
			 Westminster 8 8 11 12 9 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1 0 44 29 26 
			 Barnet 113 26 21 16 19 
			 Bexley 2 2 3 2 4 
			 Brent 18 5 4 4 8 
			 Bromley 10 11 7 10 5 
			 Croydon 3 7 2 5 2 
			 Ealing 37 24 34 35 36 
			 Enfield 2 4 7 7 4 
			 Haringey 2 8 9 7 1 
			 Harrow 5 6 1 3 3 
			 Havering 0 3 1 1 3 
			 Hillingdon 3 2 2 3 5 
			 Hounslow 11 9 5 7 8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 4 5 3 3 2 
			 Merton 3 4 2 5 7 
			 Newham 9 2 2 2 1 
			 Redbridge 0 0 3 0 1 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2 5 2 4 1 
			 Sutton 6 3 4 8 8 
			 Waltham Forest 2 1 0 2 3 
			 Birmingham 12 31 53 53 108 
			 Coventry 1 1 0 2 3 
			 Dudley 5 1 3 6 4 
			 Sandwell 14 9 1 0 1 
			 Solihull 1 0 0 0 2 
			 Walsall 0 1 3 0 5 
			 Wolverhampton 2 1 3 0 1 
			 Knowsley 3 1 2 1 3 
			 Liverpool 2 8 7 6 2 
			 St. Helens 0 2 0 0 2 
			 Sefton 2 2 4 2 2 
			 Wirral 1 1 1 0 3 
			 Bolton 5 1 2 0 3 
			 Bury 0 3 2 1 2 
			 Manchester 8 30 11 5 4 
			 Oldham 2 1 0 0 2 
			 Rochdale 2 3 17 0 2 
			 Salford 1 1 1 0 0 
			 Stockport 0 4 1 1 1 
			 Tameside 0 1 1 1 3 
			 Trafford 2 2 5 6 4 
			 Wigan 0 1 0 0 1 
			 Barnsley 1 0 1 3 0 
			 Doncaster 1 0 1 0 0 
			 Rotherham 1 1 3 1 3 
			 Sheffield 6 4 9 7 34 
			 Bradford 11 4 29 4 2 
			 Calderdale 1 6 3 6 12 
			 Kirklees 29 11 11 8 6 
			 Leeds 6 11 2 10 17 
			 Wakefield 0 2 0 1 3 
			 Gateshead 0 30 30 30 31 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 0 0 2 2 2 
			 North Tyneside 2 1 5 1 0 
			 South Tyneside 0 2 0 2 2 
			 Sunderland 106 75 0 1 1 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 31 31 4 3 6 
			 City of Bristol 8 1 3 6 10 
			 North Somerset 4 2 2 4 2 
			 South Gloucestershire 5 4 0 1 3 
			 Hartlepool 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Middlesbrough 0 1 3 1 0 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 1 2 2 1 1 
			 Stockton on Tees 0 1 1 0 3 
			 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 0 3 1 3 2 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 0 1 2 3 
			 North East Lincolnshire 8 5 0 0 0 
			 North Lincolnshire 0 1 1 2 0 
			 North Yorkshire 43 20 47 51 9 
			 York 3 4 4 3 5 
			 Bedfordshire 14 16 9 7 16 
			 Luton 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Buckinghamshire 31 20 27 22 28 
			 Milton Keynes 4 45 59 40 59 
			 Derbyshire 13 10 33 39 42 
			 City of Derby 30 42 15 5 0 
			 Dorset 16 16 8 36 33 
			 Poole 3 5 5 12 10 
			 Bournemouth 7 2 6 5 12 
			 Durham 5 2 2 2 3 
			 Darlington 0 0 2 0 0 
			 East Sussex 19 12 11 18 14 
			 Brighton and Hove 17 87 34 1 5 
			 Hampshire 65 36 39 21 56 
			 Portsmouth 3 1 3 1 0 
			 Southampton 3 6 2 0 2 
			 Leicestershire 9 14 12 3 5 
			 Leicester City 3 2 1 4 0 
			 Rutland 1 0 2 1 0 
			 Staffordshire 13 6 18 17 19 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 4 1 2 2 16 
			 Wiltshire 36 17 19 38 52 
			 Swindon 4 4 3 0 1 
			 Bracknell Forest (32)— 2 1 5 0 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead (32)— 3 7 4 0 
			 Newbury (32)— 9 13 13 4 
			 Reading (32)— 8 7 7 1 
			 Slough (32)— 23 6 5 5 
			 Wokingham (32)— 0 3 2 1 
			 Cambridgeshire (32)— 19 16 8 7 
			 Peterborough (32)— 3 9 61 52 
			 Cheshire (32)— 12 13 28 30 
			 Halton (32)— 17 0 1 0 
			 Warrington (31)— 1 0 1 2 
			 Devon (32)— 143 44 33 17 
			 Plymouth (32)— 2 5 5 4 
			 Torbay (32)— 4 7 6 4 
			 Essex (32)— 19 23 18 56 
			 Southend (32)— 8 6 1 7 
			 Thurrock (32)— 0 0 0 0 
			 Herefordshire (32)— 5 3 5 2 
			 Worcestershire (32)— 10 11 53 4 
			 Kent (32)— 34 42 30 45 
			 Rochester and Gillingham (32)— 3 8 3 11 
			 Lancashire (32)— 146 15 19 24 
			 Blackburn (32)— 4 0 0 1 
			 Blackpool (32)— 0 1 0 1 
			 Nottinghamshire (32)— 3 6 6 9 
			 Nottingham City (32)— 2 1 4 1 
			 Shropshire (32)— 7 5 1 3 
			 The Wrekin (32)— 31 19 36 50 
			 Cornwall 35 32 20 22 18 
			 Cumbria 21 28 36 24 19 
			 Gloucestershire 26 18 23 20 25 
			 Hertfordshire 41 44 34 25 26 
			 Isle of Wight 38 3 3 2 39 
			 Lincolnshire 12 19 15 46 19 
			 Norfolk 19 31 43 41 35 
			 Northamptonshire 12 31 43 40 11 
			 Northumberland 5 2 4 1 1 
			 Oxfordshire 30 26 30 27 29 
			 Somerset 16 29 15 6 12 
			 Suffolk 15 33 47 16 61 
			 Surrey 71 38 41 38 30 
			 Warwickshire 11 10 7 10 3 
			 West Sussex 15 16 18 11 17 
			 Total England 1,920 1,813 1,522 1,486 1,631 
		
	
	
		
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Mathematics  
			 Camden 18 26 23 26 43 
			 Greenwich 5 4 4 4 6 
			 Hackney 10 13 12 5 12 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 33 33 30 40 30 
			 Islington 3 7 11 8 20 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 11 14 16 4 1 
			 Lambeth 8 12 9 9 22 
			 Lewisham 34 37 16 68 71 
			 Southwark 18 14 33 27 11 
			 Tower Hamlets 16 16 93 12 13 
			 Wandsworth 21 25 49 15 17 
			 Westminster 9 9 15 42 21 
			 Barking and Dagenham 3 33 17 17 3 
			 Barnet 72 78 22 23 25 
			 Bexley 2 8 10 2 4 
			 Brent 43 39 38 28 38 
			 Bromley 9 21 7 10 8 
			 Croydon 60 38 11 34 36 
			 Ealing 10 9 13 7 10 
			 Enfield 84 37 77 92 84 
			 Haringey 6 15 20 12 14 
			 Harrow 8 20 53 48 42 
			 Havering 28 31 1 1 6 
			 Hillingdon 28 45 50 39 70 
			 Hounslow 30 10 7 27 11 
			 Kingston upon Thames 8 5 7 5 3 
			 Merton 7 6 2 4 7 
			 Newham 9 2 4 10 3 
			 Redbridge 0 1 5 0 1 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3 9 3 4 1 
			 Sutton 54 60 55 63 69 
			 Waltham Forest 2 1 0 5 1 
			 Birmingham 50 54 76 78 102 
			 Coventry 8 10 5 10 2 
			 Dudley 30 24 26 26 28 
			 Sandwell 23 19 11 23 23 
			 Solihull 23 17 28 5 7 
			 Walsall 46 54 38 47 89 
			 Wolverhampton 4 3 3 0 9 
			 Knowsley 3 3 3 8 6 
			 Liverpool 37 49 62 85 92 
			 St. Helens 0 2 2 0 2 
			 Sefton 5 11 6 27 18 
			 Wirral 40 48 36 44 37 
			 Bolton 6 1 2 1 53 
			 Bury 15 12 17 2 8 
			 Manchester 28 22 31 19 48 
			 Oldham 42 37 34 44 58 
			 Rochdale 2 7 4 3 6 
			 Salford 1 2 1 0 4 
			 Stockport 0 4 1 11 1 
			 Tameside 13 11 10 9 12 
			 Trafford 2 2 5 6 4 
			 Wigan 0 1 0 0 7 
			 Barnsley 0 0 1 5 9 
			 Doncaster 1 2 1 0 6 
			 Rotherham 3 3 3 2 5 
			 Sheffield 7 7 11 13 9 
			 Bradford 38 40 31 34 38 
			 Calderdale 1 7 8 5 6 
			 Kirklees 3 11 13 9 8 
			 Leeds 89 81 91 119 141 
			 Wakefield 0 1 0 1 4 
			 Gateshead 0 21 23 24 24 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 7 5 12 23 21 
			 North Tyneside 3 2 9 6 7 
			 South Tyneside 0 1 0 33 3 
			 Sunderland 13 11 3 24 10 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 27 35 29 29 26 
			 City of Bristol 4 3 3 7 9 
			 North Somerset 24 27 30 29 19 
			 South Gloucestershire 5 5 0 1 3 
			 Hartlepool 0 0 1 3 30 
			 Middlesbrough 0 1 5 1 5 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 1 2 2 1 2 
			 Stockton on Tees 1 2 3 7 4 
			 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 2 18 7 3 2 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 0 1 4 2 
			 North East Lincolnshire 4 2 18 18 19 
			 North Lincolnshire 1 2 2 1 0 
			 North Yorkshire 76 17 28 22 11 
			 York 16 8 3 8 8 
			 Bedfordshire 38 37 46 45 36 
			 Luton 2 3 6 32 86 
			 Buckinghamshire 107 95 117 106 122 
			 Milton Keynes 6 8 2 14 36 
			 Derbyshire 73 70 72 79 73 
			 City of Derby 23 0 2 6 0 
			 Dorset 38 21 13 11 14 
			 Poole 4 5 5 12 11 
			 Bournemouth 9 3 7 5 12 
			 Durham 5 2 4 2 5 
			 Darlington 0 0 2 0 0 
			 East Sussex 13 17 18 16 20 
			 Brighton and Hove 1 8 4 7 9 
			 Hampshire 209 231 211 253 225 
			 Portsmouth 27 7 8 13 14 
			 Southampton 10 23 55 35 52 
			 Leicestershire 13 2 17 30 48 
			 Leicester City 3 2 4 5 2 
			 Rutland 1 1 3 1 0 
			 Staffordshire 64 74 117 86 104 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 10 80 11 13 12 
			 Wiltshire 68 61 50 73 60 
			 Swindon 19 48 54 34 55 
			 Bracknell Forest (32)— 21 3 5 0 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead (32)— 29 7 29 1 
			 Newbury (32)— 29 31 35 3 
			 Reading (32)— 31 34 15 21 
			 Slough (32)— 6 6 6 8 
			 Wokingham (32)— 25 29 29 26 
			 Cambridgeshire (32)— 93 57 53 34 
			 Peterborough (32)— 3 41 26 3 
			 Cheshire (32)— 129 155 148 76 
			 Halton (32)— 30 2 1 2 
			 Warrington (32)— 14 13 23 23 
			 Devon (32)— 39 27 35 30 
			 Plymouth (32)— 4 7 10 8 
			 Torbay (32)— 4 8 7 4 
			 Essex (32)— 117 123 153 200 
			 Southend (32)— 13 6 28 39 
			 Thurrock (32)— 0 9 0 1 
			 Herefordshire (32)— 30 52 58 77 
			 Worcestershire (32)— 63 44 26 32 
			 Kent (32)— 340 342 299 414 
			 Rochester and Gillingham (32)— 4 9 8 65 
			 Lancashire (32)— 38 17 31 38 
			 Blackburn (32)— 8 5 4 7 
			 Blackpool (32)— 2 10 3 7 
			 Nottinghamshire (32)— 56 93 88 114 
			 Nottingham City (32)— 44 51 40 72 
			 Shropshire (32)— 20 23 24 13 
			 The Wrekin (32)— 31 22 5 9 
			 Cornwall 35 32 19 21 36 
			 Cumbria 22 26 12 15 16 
			 Gloucestershire 65 65 99 70 84 
			 Hertfordshire 85 91 79 60 51 
			 Isle of Wight 4 4 3 83 70 
			 Lincolnshire 65 90 87 138 113 
			 Norfolk 52 57 59 72 28 
			 Northamptonshire 66 34 65 65 62 
			 Northumberland 5 1 5 1 2 
			 Oxfordshire 81 72 62 46 53 
			 Somerset 20 38 46 41 40 
			 Suffolk 22 15 15 18 24 
			 Surrey 86 63 74 54 167 
			 Warwickshire 38 37 35 33 35 
			 West Sussex 48 16 29 14 23 
			 Total England 3,858 3,985 4,111 4,369 4,877 
		
	
	(31) Information is not available by year group and so numbers relates to pupils that sat their examinations prior to reaching their final year of compulsory education.
	(32) Indicates that due to LEA reorganisation, the figures for these LEAs are not available.

Examinations

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many requests there were for an exam paper to be re-marked for each exam paper offered by each of the exam boards; and what percentage this represented of the papers taken in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: Information on requests for examination papers to be re-marked has been monitored by QCA since 1999 for each qualification. The small numbers involved make it impracticable to report on each specification, subject or local education authority.
	Data are collected from the following awarding bodies:
	Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA),
	Edexcel Foundation (Edexcel),
	Oxford, Cambridge, and RSA Examination Board (OCR),
	Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment—Northern Ireland (CCEA),
	Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC).
	Data for 2001 include results of the GCE A-levels; both the new Advanced Subsidiary and old Advanced Supplementary examinations; for the new VCE advanced and AS examinations; and for the GCSE full and short courses. The new examinations were not available in previous years.
	Details are in the tables.
	
		Inquiries upon examinations in summer 2001
		
			   Awarding body   Total number of candidates  Number of candidates involved in inquiries Candidates involved in an inquiry as a percentage of total candidates 
		
		
			 GCE A-level
			 AQA 368,988 9,107 2.4 
			 CCEA 19,022 862 4.5 
			 EDEXCEL 151,107 4,343 3.0 
			 OCR 210,194 5,074 3.0 
			 WJEC 27,011 274 1.0 
			 Total 776,322 20,568 2.7 
			   
			  GCE Advanced Supplementary level 
			 AQA 10,546 67 1 
			 CCEA 361 5 1.3 
			 EDEXCEL 8,093 269 3.3 
			 OCR 8,312 42 0.5 
			 WJEC 927 4 0.4 
			 Total 28,239 387 1.4 
			 
			  GCE Advanced Subsidiary level 
			 AQA 327,565 10,498 3.2 
			 CCEA 9,243 668 7.2 
			 EDEXCEL 205,594 2,520 1.2 
			 OCR 198,549 5,659 3 
			 WJEC 30,942 151 0.5 
			 Total 771,893 19,496 2.5 
			   
			  VCE—A-level 
			 AQA 1,117 (33)— (33)— 
			 CCEA 0 (33)— (33)— 
			 EDEXCEL 9,817 5 0.1 
			 OCR 1,239 155 13 
			 WJEC 0 (33)— (33)— 
			 Total 12,173 160 1.3 
			 
			  VCE—AS-level 
			 AQA 1,394 17 1.2 
			 CCEA 0 (33)— (33)— 
			 EDEXCEL 2,939 (33)— (33)— 
			 OCR 1,437 11 0.8 
			 WJEC 0 (33)— (33)— 
			 Total 5,770 28 0.5 
			 GCSE 
			 AQA 3,170,636 29,239 1.0 
			 CCEA 136,191 2,742 2.0 
			 EDEXCEL 942,520 4,551 0.5 
			 OCR 1,126,820 7,385 0.7 
			 WJEC 296,600 976 0.3 
			 Total 5,672,767 44,893 0.8 
			 
			  GCSE short courses 
			 AQA 106,690 852 0.8 
			 CCEA 1,618 4 0.2 
			 EDEXCEL 73,566 118 0.2 
			 OCR 105,471 782 0.7 
			 WJEC 31,237 54 0.2 
			 Total 318,582 1,810 0.6 
		
	
	(33) No inquiries
	
		Inquiries upon examinations in summer 2000
		
			  Awarding body   Total number of candidates  Number of candidates involved in inquiries Candidates involved in an inquiry as a percentage of total candidates(34) 
		
		
			 GCE A-level
			 AQA 372,776 12,350 3.31 
			 CCEA 19,352 1,004 5.19 
			 EDEXCEL 147,971 5,664 3.83 
			 OCR 206,745 10,164 4,92 
			 WJEC 27,536 458 1.66 
			 Total 774,380 29,640 3.83 
			 
			  GCE AS-level 
			 AQA 32,850 597 1.82 
			 CCEA 396 1 0.25 
			 EDEXCEL 16,749 381 2.27 
			 OCR 24,155 163 0.67 
			 WJEC 2,277 7 0.31 
			 Total 76,427 1,149 1.50 
			 
			  GCSE full courses 
			 AQA 3,096,733 30,962 1.00 
			 CCEA 140,599 3,057 2.17 
			 EDEXCEL 892,349 7,569 0.85 
			 OCR 1,099,251 15,538 1.41 
			 WJEC 303,479 646 0.21 
			 Total 5,532,411 57,772 1.04 
			 
			  GCSE short courses 
			 AQA 102,871 829 0.8 
			 CCEA 0 (35)— — 
			 EDEXCEL 63,611 161 0.3 
			 OCR 97,873 2,247 2.3 
			 WJEC 16,591 27 0.2 
			 Total 280,946 3,264 1.2 
		
	
	(34) Rounded to two decimal places
	(35) No inquiries
	
		Inquiries upon examinations in summer 1999
		
			   Awarding body   Total number of candidates  Number of candidates involved in inquiries Candidates involved in an inquiry as a percentage of total candidates 
		
		
			 GCE
			 AQA 378,304 12,258 3.01 
			 CCEA 20,144 1,546 7.67 
			 EDEXCEL 151,471 6,021 4.0 
			 OCR 211,199 6,195 2.93 
			 WJEC 26,614 660 2.48 
			 Total 787,732 26,680 3.39 
			 
			 GCSE
			 AQA 3,207,688 5,086 0.16 
			 CCEA 146,326 1,964 1.34 
			 EDEXCEL 918,869 8,814 0.96 
			 OCR 1,190,240 12,344 1.04 
			 WJEC 293,156 674 0.23 
			 Total 5,756,279 28,882 0.50

Examinations

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the impact of compulsory AS levels on examination timetables in (a) secondary schools and (b) sixth form colleges; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The Joint Council for General Qualifications is responsible for devising the A level common timetable, in consultation with centres, and reviews its effectiveness after each examination series. The Secretary of State is closely monitoring centres' experiences of the common timetable.

Rural Schools Fund

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many schools have been assisted by the Rural Schools Fund initiative since its inception;
	(2)  how many schools have been assisted by the Rural Schools Grant Fund; and what is the total amount awarded since its inception.

John Healey: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Department does not fund a Rural Schools Fund. However, rural schools in England can benefit from a number of programmes, including the Small Schools Fund. This Fund, part of the simplified Standards Fund, was set up in 2001 by the merging of two previous grants (the Administrative Support Fund for Small Schools and the Small School Support Fund). The Small Schools Fund is worth a total of £80 million a year, guaranteed until 2004. It is allocated to Local Education Authorities (LEAs) according to the number of their primary and special schools with 200 pupils or less, and secondary schools with 600 pupils or less. An allowance is also made for nursery schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).
	Using the Department's thresholds, based on the January 2000 school census, 9,982 schools, nurseries and PRUs were able to benefit from the total Small School Fund allocation to LEAs for 2001–02. LEAs have to devolve at least 95 per cent. of the funding to schools. However, LEAs can concentrate funding on fewer schools in their area by setting their own, lower thresholds should they so wish.

School Conditions

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have been substantially repaired in 2001–02.

John Healey: holding answer 25 March 2002
	We do not hold information in the form requested. Much capital support is allocated to local education authorities and schools on a formulaic basis. Records of how it is utilised for specific projects are held locally.

Education Maintenance Allowances

George Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when evaluation of education maintenance allowances will be completed; if resources for the continuation of EMAs will be included in her departmental budget for the future; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The evaluation of the EMA pilots will continue into 2003; but a rich seam of evaluation findings will become available during 2002. So far we have published a report on the effect of EMA on participation rates for the first of the two cohorts which the independent researchers are studying. This showed an increase in participation of five percentage points among the target group. During 2002 we expect to publish reports on the impact of EMA on drop out rates and end-of-course attainment for this first cohort. We also expect to publish the first reports on the second cohort of EMA recipients this year. We have always made clear that all of the EMA evaluation reports will be made public.
	There is provision in our budgets to fund all young people who now receive an EMA until their entitlement expires. There is similar provision to fund new EMAs for young people in the pilot areas who begin post-compulsory education in September 2002. Wider decisions on the future of EMAs will be taken in the 2002 Spending Review.

Ministerial Travel

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each visit was.

Estelle Morris: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 28 February 2002, Official Report, column 1543W. The country visited was China.
	Details of special adviser travel for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published as soon as possible in the new financial year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Ivan Lewis: Information will be available in the departmental annual report, which is due to be published in May. This details progress against our PSA targets and reports on key initiatives undertaken by the Department in the last financial year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase the proportion of those aged 16 years who achieve one or more GCSEs at grade C, or equivalent, to 95 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Ivan Lewis: The relevant national learning target for 16-year-olds is that 95 per cent. of 16-year-olds should achieve one or more GCSE or equivalent by 2002. The target does not specify that the grade should be C or above. In 2001, 94.5 per cent. of pupils achieved this target compared with 94.4 per cent. in 2000. Although the target is challenging we do not believe it is unattainable.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase the proportion of those aged 16 years who achieve five or more GCSEs at grade A*-C to 50 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Ivan Lewis: I am pleased to report that in 2001 exactly 50.0 per cent. achieved at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE or the GNVQ equivalent compared with 49.2 per cent. in 2000. We were delighted that the target was achieved a year early.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if the target of successful establishment of a system of inspection of the new Connexions strategy and framework for inspection by March has been met.

Ivan Lewis: This is a matter for the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and I have asked HM Chief Inspector for Schools, Mike Tomlinson, to write to the hon. Gentleman and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target on school truancies will be met by 2002.

Ivan Lewis: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 Departmental Report, which should be published in May.
	Analysis of last year's data shows that the level unauthorised absence in primary schools has decreased between 1998–99 and 2000–01 in 44 LEAs and remained steady in a further 71 LEAs. The level of unauthorised absence in secondary schools has decreased in 60 LEAs and remained steady in a further 31 LEAs.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if the target of successful establishment of a system of joint inspections of further education institutions falling into the remit of Ofsted by March has been achieved.

Margaret Hodge: Yes. The Learning and Skills Act 2000 required there to be a common set of principles for the inspection of post-16 non-higher education and training. The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (the ALI) jointly published these principles in the Common Inspection Framework in February 2001. Since April 2001, Ofsted have directed the programme of joint inspections of further education institutions against this Common Inspection Framework.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target of an increase in the proportion of those aged 19 years who have achieved national vocational qualification level 2 or equivalent to 85 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Stephen Timms: While we have made good progress in increasing the achievement of level 2 by 19-year-olds, it is apparent on current trends that the 2002 target will not be reached. We are working closely with the Learning and Skills Council to ensure maximum progress is being made by implementing specific local and innovative approaches to improving level 2 attainment. A number of measures proposed by the Government in our recently published Green Paper "14 to 19—Extending Opportunities; Raising Standards" will contribute to higher attainment at age 19 subsequently.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the target of 93 per cent. of inspection reports reviewed meeting HM Chief Inspector's standard by March will be achieved.

Stephen Timms: This is a matter for HM Chief Inspector of Schools. I have therefore asked Mike Tomlinson to write to the hon. Member and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase the proportion of those aged 11 meeting the numeracy standard for that age from 62 per cent. to 75 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Stephen Timms: In last year's Key Stage 2 mathematics tests 71 per cent. of pupils achieved the expected standard for their age. This represents a 10 per cent. points increase since 1997. The National Numeracy Strategy continues to raise standards in primary schools and we remain committed to achieving our 2002 target of 75 per cent. of 11-year-olds achieving the expected standard.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase provision of nursery places for three-years-olds from 34 per cent. to 66 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Margaret Hodge: On 27 February 2002, my noble Friend the Minister for Education and Skills in the Lords announced that two-thirds of all three-year-olds in England now have access to a free, part-time, early education place. The Government are committed to increasing this to all three-year-olds by September 2004.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the target to complete benchmarking work for schools by December will be met.

Stephen Timms: The target will be met. All schools will be able to enter their expenditure data on the Audit Commission benchmarking website and compare them with a range of similar schools. All schools have been given full details of the Consistent Financial Reporting framework so that they can ensure a standard classification of expenditure.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase the proportion of those aged 11 meeting the literacy standard for that age from 63 per cent. to 80 per cent. by 2002 will be met.

Stephen Timms: In last year's Key Stage 2 English tests 75 per cent. of pupils achieved the expected standard for their age. This represents a 12 per cent. increase since 1997. The National Literacy Strategy continues to raise standards in primary schools and we remain committed to achieving our 2002 target of 80 per cent. of 11-year-olds achieving the expected standard.

Teaching Vacancies

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated with regard to the number of (i) head teacher and (ii) teacher vacancies; and if she will make a statement.

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she proposes to publish the 2002 Census of Teachers undertaken in January; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The annual Form 618g survey of teacher numbers and vacancies was conducted on 17 January 2002. I expect the provisional results of the survey to be published in late April or early May.

Green Paper

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she will publish the responses received as part of the consultation exercise linked to the publication of the Green Paper 14–19: Extending Opportunities, Raising Standards.

Stephen Timms: It is not usual practice to publish all the individual responses to an official consultation. In line with Cabinet Office guidelines, we intend to make widely available analysis of the responses to the Green Paper later this year alongside announcement of decisions taken following consultation.
	In line with established open Government practices, we would also expect to make available, on request, copies of responses from individuals and organisations who have not specifically asked that their response be kept confidential.

Departmental Policies

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the (a) title, (b) subject and (c) associated funding of each (i) project, (ii) scheme, (iii) initiative and (iv) policy announced by the Department for Education and Employment since 1997, on a monthly basis.

Ivan Lewis: Information is not held in the format requested and generating it would incur disproportionate cost.
	I refer the hon. Member to the Departmental Report (April 2000) for information on the Government's policies on education and associated expenditure.

Research

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated with regard to the number of teachers in secondary schools who are teaching a subject in which they are not specifically trained; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: This information is collected as part of the Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey. Preparations for the next survey are in hand.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Ivan Lewis: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Learning Support Units

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding each learning support unit has attracted for each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: Funding for learning support units is allocated to local education authorities through the Standards Fund and the Excellence in Cities Programme. Decisions on the amount made available for each unit are made at the local level, this information is not held centrally. The tables show the funding available for each local education authority for learning support units.
	Table 1 shows the funding available for learning support units and learning mentors for each authority in the Excellence in Cities programme—which commenced in 1999. The table also includes those authorities with schools taking part in the Excellence Clusters programme. Funding for learning support units is made available alongside complementary support for learning mentors, it is not possible therefore to disaggregate this funding.
	Since April 2000 funding has been available for authorities outside the Excellence in Cities programme to set up and run secondary school learning support units, including capital funding in the first two years. Table 2 shows the funding available for each authority.
	
		Table 1: Funding made available to local education authorities for learning mentors and learning support units as part of the Excellence in Cities programme -- £
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 201 City of London — 6,000 10,000 10,000 
			 202 Camden 345,033 1,102,900 1,316,9000 1,404,027 
			 203 Greenwich 543,479 1,791,000 2,210,000 2,324,551 
			 204 Hackney 395,438 1,422,300 1,792,300 1,868,779 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 235,290 789,000 975,000 1,035,888 
			 206 Islington 368,499 1,315,600 1,646,600 1,720,802 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 137,743 826,800 1,143,800 1,173,608 
			 208 Lambeth 339,617 1,347,900 1,744,900 1,811,866 
			 209 Lewisham 527,111 1,752,800 2,166,800 2,271,569 
			 210 Southwark 544,656 1,870,400 2,342,400 2,451,420 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 775,891 2,400,100 2,915,100 3,088,501 
			 212 Wandsworth 385,498 1,311,100 1,615,100 1,689,983 
			 213 Westminster 315,512 640,900 640,900 797,227 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham — 448,000 768,000 768,000 
			 304 Brent — 580,000 994,000 994,000 
			 306 Croydon — — 274,500 470,500 
			 307 Ealing — 631,000 1,082,000 1,082,000 
			 308 Enfield — — 893,000 1,522,000 
			 309 Haringey 652,517 1,609,800 2,023,800 2,129,796 
			 313 Hounslow — — 674,000 1,149,000 
			 316 Newham 773,793 2,539,900 3,121,900 3,290,486 
			 320 Waltham Forest 508,202 1,682,300 2,073,300 2,174,202 
			 330 Birmingham 2,660,963 8,511,400 10,474,400 11,045,215 
			 331 Coventry — — 300,500 515,000 
			 331 Sandwell — — 991,000 1,689,000 
			 334 North Solihull — 68,110 272,440 272,440 
			 335 Walsall — — 344,500 591,000 
			 336 Wolverhampton — — 714,000 1,216,000 
			 340 Knowsley 507,285 1,682,500 2,076,500 2,175,852 
			 341 Liverpool 1,344,798 4,211,800 5,122,800 5,415,053 
			 342 St. Helens — 534,000 915,000 1,192,000 
			 343 Sefton — 308,000 528,000 528,000 
			 343 Sefton — — 560,000 954,000 
			 344 Wirral — 1,035,000 1,774,000 1,774,000 
			 352 Manchester 1,080,735 3,603,400 4,499,400 4,722,977 
			 353 Oldham — — 815,000 1,390,000 
			 354 Rochdale — 626,000 1,073,000 1,073,000 
			 355 Salford 478,338 1,615,700 2,002,700 2,091,173 
			 357 Tameside — — 264,500 453,500 
			 370 Barnsley — — 702,000 1,197,000 
			 371 Doncaster — — 904,000 1,541,000 
			 372 Rotherham 589,083 1,844,600 2,233,600 2,351,711 
			 373 Sheffield 1,009,575 3,235,800 3,973,800 4,166,982 
			 380 Bradford 1,212,970 3,846,000 4,688,000 4,936,502 
			 382 Kirklees — — 662,500 914,000 
			 383 Leeds 1,363,727 4,434,200 5,440,200 5,734,182 
			 390 Gateshead — 524,000 898,000 898,000 
			 391 Newcastle — 746,000 1,279,000 1,279,000 
			 392 North Tyneside — 490,000 840,000 840,000 
			 393 South Tyneside — 508,000 871,000 871,000 
			 394 Sunderland — 966,000 1,656,000 1,656,000 
			 801 Bristol — 734,000 1,258,000 1,258,000 
			 805 Hartlepool — 312,000 535,000 535,000 
			 806 Middlesbrough — 528,000 906,000 906,000 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland — 512,000 877,000 877,000 
			 808 Stockton on Tees — 557,000 955,000 955,000 
			 810 Kingston upon Hull — 770,000 1,320,000 1,320,000 
			 821 Luton — — 646,000 1,103,000 
			 851 Portsmouth — — 327,000 560,500 
			 856 Leicester City — 798,000 1,368,000 1,368,000 
			 861 Stoke on Trent — 676,000 1,159,000 1,159,000 
			 876 Halton — 408,000 699,000 699,000 
			 886 Kent — — 265,500 455,500 
			 888 Lancashire — — 460,000 787,500 
			 889 Blackburn — — 526,000 896,000 
			 890 Blackpool — — 376,000 641,000 
			 892 Nottingham — 810,000 1,389,000 1,389,000 
			 909 Cumbria — — 221,500 380,000 
			  
			 Totals 17,095,753 68,963,310 102,588,140 188,647,203 
		
	
	
		Table 2: Funding made available for secondary school learning support units for each local education authority
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 302 Barnet 104,444 207,923 108,190 
			 303 Bexley 76,737 152,715 81,528 
			 305 Bromley 90,269 179,604 94,134 
			 306 Croydon 100,082 199,316 106,336 
			 308 Enfield 119,215 188,351 — 
			 310 Harrow 45,413 90,434 50,894 
			 311 Havering 65,796 130,886 70,137 
			 312 Hillingdon 76,440 152,159 82,275 
			 313 Hounslow 95,421 150,758 — 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 31,778 63,163 33,983 
			 315 Merton 43,599 86,832 42,277 
			 317 Redbridge 96,398 191,959 93,204 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 39,925 79,494 40,502 
			 319 Sutton 49,359 98,091 53,657 
			 331 Coventry 115,993 231,034 124,845 
			 332 Dudley 98,173 195,418 105,061 
			 333 Sandwell 119,787 189,254 — 
			 334 Solihull 67,243 133,715 — 
			 335 Walsall 116,652 232,322 — 
			 336 Wolverhampton 98,045 154,904 — 
			 350 Bolton 95,230 189,593 102,415 
			 351 Bury 56,231 111,921 61,366 
			 353 Oldham 103,701 163,839 — 
			 356 Stockport 80,302 159,840 83,543 
			 357 Tameside 87,637 174,581 96,388 
			 358 Trafford 85,793 170,873 83,443 
			 359 Wigan 105,864 210,763 107,635 
			 370 Barnsley 88,805 140,304 — 
			 371 Doncaster 122,531 193,589 — 
			 381 Calderdale 75,753 150,835 79,471 
			 382 Kirklees 144,503 287,786 151,874 
			 384 Wakefield 109,727 218,492 118,907 
			 420 Isles of Scilly — — 392 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 45,092 89,627 45,831 
			 802 North Somerset 44,148 87,728 45,925 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 61,608 122,428 60,108 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 85,826 170,622 87,239 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 66,098 131,666 74,804 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 50,594 100,688 52,216 
			 815 North Yorkshire 134,399 266,958 138,731 
			 816 York 39,597 78,739 39,560 
			 820 Bedfordshire 152,770 303,827 153,500 
			 821 Luton 82,306 130,036 — 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 109,791 218,114 113,024 
			 826 Milton Keynes 57,230 113,916 53,464 
			 830 Derbyshire 189,424 376,667 206,061 
			 831 Derby City 88,322 175,933 90,822 
			 835 Dorset 99,050 196,781 99,169 
			 836 Poole 29,569 58,761 29,254 
			 837 Bournemouth 41,625 82,798 42,071 
			 840 Durham 176,300 351,084 185,379 
			 841 Darlington 32,795 65,316 32,183 
			 845 East Sussex 126,839 252,431 132,758 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 65,765 131,003 67,828 
			 850 Hampshire 234,510 465,798 247,385 
			 851 Portsmouth 51,031 101,608 55,268 
			 852 Southampton 65,209 129,861 69,736 
			 855 Leicestershire 150,121 298,210 156,217 
			 857 Rutland — — 7,200 
			 860 Staffordshire 239,668 476,522 243,660 
			 865 Wiltshire 92,951 184,629 97,282 
			 866 Swindon 47,619 94,711 47,057 
			 867 Bracknell Forest Borough Council 19,681 39,070 18,762 
			 868 Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead 32,904 65,333 33,197 
			 869 West Berkshire District Council 34,899 69,266 91,245 
			 870 Reading 28,655 57,017 30,023 
			 871 Slough Borough Council 38,650 76,948 40,802 
			 872 Wokingham District Council 32,338 51,092 33,257 
			 873 Cambridgeshire County Council 114,898 228,378 115,592 
			 874 Peterborough City Council 72,818 145,039 71,452 
			 875 Cheshire County Council 183,633 365,125 191,476 
			 877 Warrington Borough Council 58,325 116,015 57,882 
			 878 Devon County Council 152,674 303,558 167,370 
			 879 City of Plymouth 91,556 182,248 90,946 
			 880 Torbay Borough Council 43,682 86,964 42,559 
			 881 Essex County Council 347,601 691,295 358,723 
			 882 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council 54,138 107,769 54,222 
			 883 Thurrock Council 42,824 85,281 43,083 
			 884 Herefordshire Council 34,041 67,639 37,144 
			 885 Worcestershire County Council 151,530 301,190 170,226 
			 886 Kent County Council 398,629 792,974 381,112 
			 887 Medway Council 82,329 163,760 80,705 
			 888 Lancashire County Council 390,057 776,668 388,755 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 68,849 108,778 — 
			 890 Blackpool Borough Council 47,634 75,257 — 
			 891 Nottinghamshire County Council 257,798 513,072 257,438 
			 893 Shropshire 63,846 126,891 67,111 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 58,582 116,643 63,814 
			 908 Cornwall 142,179 282,906 146,578 
			 909 Cumbria 151,123 300,689 156,601 
			 916 Gloucestershire 135,010 268,288 135,549 
			 919 Hertfordshire 268,889 534,290 272,923 
			 921 Isle of Wight 63,727 126,915 64,298 
			 925 Lincolnshire 158,323 314,666 169,582 
			 926 Norfolk 178,895 355,771 192,023 
			 928 Northamptonshire 214,490 426,692 211,403 
			 929 Northumberland 137,478 273,534 138,617 
			 931 Oxfordshire 143,022 284,270 154,613 
			 933 Somerset 115,142 228,875 123,694 
			 935 Suffolk 217,129 431,838 224,560 
			 936 Surrey 187,352 372,133 191,804 
			 937 Warwickshire 116,483 231,479 120,896 
			 938 West Sussex 153,803 305,654 151,043 
			  
			 Totals 10,752,719 20,988,480 9,987,270 
		
	
	Note:
	Includes capital and recurrent funding in 2000–01 and 2001–02.

Learning Support Units

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been provided to each learning support unit in each year since their creation, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply provided earlier today to the hon. Member for Ashford (Mr. Green).

Learning Support Units

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many learning support units in England (a) opened and (b) closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: We are unable to provide a full breakdown of how many learning support units per local education authority have opened or closed since 1997 as we do not collate this information centrally.
	However, the table does show a breakdown of the learning support units that are funded through Excellence in Cities as at 1 February 2002, including those proposed as part of the pilot set up for EiC Phase 1 Primary schools. Not all are up and running yet, the figures reflect the numbers and LEA location for approved learning support unit plans.
	
		Number of LSUs funded through the Excellence in Cities programme
		
			   Secondary Primary 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 8 — 
			 Barnsley 9 — 
			 Birmingham 10 4 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 4 — 
			 Blackpool 8 — 
			 Bradford (2) 14 4 
			 Brent (2) 6 — 
			 Bristol 4 — 
			 Camden 2 2 
			 Corp of London — — 
			 Doncaster 17 — 
			 Ealing (2) 4 — 
			 Enfield 6 — 
			 Gateshead 6 — 
			 Greenwich 14 7 
			 Hackney 8 2 
			 Halton 9 — 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 5 1 
			 Haringey 5 2 
			 Hartlepool 6 — 
			 Hounslow 7 — 
			 Islington 7 2 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 4 1 
			 Kingston upon Hull 9 — 
			 Knowsley 11 2 
			 Lambeth 6 2 
			 Leeds 15 5 
			 Leicester City 4 — 
			 Lewisham 12 2 
			 Liverpool 6 5 
			 Luton 12 — 
			 Manchester 20 3 
			 Middlesbrough 6 — 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 12 — 
			 Newham 15 3 
			 North Tyneside 4 — 
			 Nottingham 21 — 
			 Oldham 8 — 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 4 — 
			 Rochdale 14 — 
			 Rotherham 17 2 
			 Salford 6 2 
			 Sandwell 7 — 
			 Sefton (2) 12 — 
			 Sheffield 9 3 
			 Solihull 3 — 
			 Southwark 7 2 
			 South Tyneside (2) 11 — 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 5 — 
			 Stoke on Trent 11 — 
			 St. Helens (2) 5 — 
			 Sunderland (2) 6 — 
			 Tower Hamlets 14 2 
			 Waltham Forest 8 4 
			 Wandsworth 4 2 
			 Westminster 8 1 
			 Wirral (2) 16 — 
			  
			 Totals 491 65

National School Leadership College/ General Teaching Council

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding has been received by the (a) National School Leadership College and (b) General Teaching Council from her Department in each year since its creation.

Stephen Timms: Grant in aid funding provided by this Department to the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) and the General Teaching Council (GTC) is as follows:
	
		£ 
		
			  NCSL GTC 
		
		
			 2000–01 (36)0 (37)4,000,000 
			 2001–02 27,797,000 9,880,000 
			 2002–03 60,000,000 2,911,000 
		
	
	(36) Grant in aid payments to the NCSL began in April 2001.
	(37) Grant in aid payments to the GTC began in September 2000. Funding in 2000–01 therefore covered the period September 2000 to March 2001 inclusive.

Excellence in Cities Projects

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Excellence in Cities projects in England opened in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: Phase 1 of the Excellence in Cities (EiC) project was launched by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the then Secretary of State in March 1999. Phase 2 was announced in March 2000 together with a primary pilot extending EiC to primary schools in the Phase 1 areas. In October 2000, Phase 3 and new Excellence Clusters, targeting smaller pockets of social deprivation within LEAs not included in the main programme, were announced. The areas covered by EiC partnerships, ie local education authorities working with their schools, are consistent with LEA boundaries. Excellence Clusters, however, are clusters of schools within an LEA boundary.
	Excellence in Cities Phase 1 implemented from September 1999
	Birmingham
	Bradford
	Camden
	Corporation of London
	Greenwich
	Hackney
	Hammersmith and Fulham
	Haringey
	Islington
	Kensington and Chelsea
	Knowsley
	Lambeth
	Leeds
	Lewisham
	Liverpool
	Manchester
	Newham
	Rotherham
	Salford
	Sheffield
	Southwark
	Tower Hamlets
	Waltham Forest
	Wandsworth
	Westminster
	Excellence in Cities Phase 2 implemented from September 2000
	Barking and Dagenham
	Brent
	Bristol
	Ealing
	Gateshead
	Halton
	Hartlepool
	Kingston Upon Hull
	Leicester City
	Middlesbrough
	Newcastle Upon Tyne
	North Tyneside
	City of Nottingham
	Redcar and Cleveland
	Rochdale
	Sefton (seven Bootle schools only)
	Solihull (three North Solihull schools only)
	South Tyneside
	St. Helens
	Stockton on Tees
	Stoke on Trent
	Sunderland
	Wirral
	Excellence in Cities Phase 3 implemented from September 2001
	Barnsley
	Blackburn with Darwin
	Blackpool
	Doncaster
	Enfield
	Hounslow
	Luton
	Oldham
	Sandwell
	Sefton (the part not included in Phase 2)
	Wolverhampton
	Excellence Clusters implemented from September 2001 (cluster names in brackets)
	Coventry
	Croydon
	Kirklees (Dewbury and Batley)
	Lancashire (East Lancashire)
	Kirklees (Huddersfield)
	Portsmouth
	Kent (Shepway)
	Tameside
	Walsall
	Cumbria (West Cumbria)
	Lancashire (West Lancashire)
	Excellence Cluster implemented in January 2002
	Thurrock (Tilbury and Chadwell).

Excellence in Cities Projects

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been provided to each Excellence in Cities project in each year since its creation, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: Excellence in Cities (EiC) now covers 58 local education authority areas.
	The tables show details of the funding provided to LEAs for EiC Phase 1, 2, and 3 partnerships, and the 12 Excellence Clusters.
	
		Allocations to LEAs for EiC Phase 1 partnerships which started from September 1999 -- £000
		
			 LEA 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Birmingham 4,372 20,157 21,824 46,353 
			 Bradford 2,283 8,780 10,767 21,930 
			 Camden 848 2,781 3,579 7,208 
			 City of London 5 8 52 65 
			 Greenwich 1,139 4,115 6,453 11,707 
			 Hackney 879 3,419 4,957 9,255 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 340 1,777 2,912 5,029 
			 Haringey 835 3,002 4,297 8,134 
			 Islington 508 2,296 4,659 7,463 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 406 1,744 2,586 4,736 
			 Knowsley 769 3,806 6,420 10,995 
			 Lambeth 627 2,048 4,211 6,886 
			 Leeds 2,410 9,838 13,322 25,570 
			 Lewisham 738 3,328 4,006 8,072 
			 Liverpool 2,358 9,971 13,053 25,382 
			 Manchester 1,943 9,507 10,987 22,437 
			 Newham 1,479 4,850 5,491 11,820 
			 Rotherham 1,168 6,396 5,879 13,443 
			 Salford 743 5,348 4,883 10,974 
			 Sheffield 1,984 7,760 13,029 22,773 
			 Southwark 784 2,778 4,753 8,315 
			 Tower Hamlets 1,229 4,522 5,434 11,185 
			 Waltham Forest 866 3,423 3,849 8,138 
			 Wandsworth 954 3,883 4,003 8,840 
			 Westminster 530 1,048 1,297 2,875 
		
	
	
		Allocations to LEAs for EiC Phase 2 partnerships which started from September 2000 -- £000
		
			 LEA 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,078 3,335 4,413 
			 Brent 1,245 4,881 6,126 
			 Bristol 1,424 5,201 6,625 
			 Ealing 1,442 3,752 5,194 
			 Gateshead 2,005 5,511 7,516 
			 Halton 868 3,483 4,351 
			 Hartlepool 1,104 2,442 3,546 
			 Kingston Upon Hull 1,670 5,068 6,738 
			 Leicester City 2,403 5,128 7,531 
			 Middlesbrough 889 3,193 4,082 
			 Newcastle 1,976 4,739 6,715 
			 North Tyneside 1,329 3,668 4,997 
			 Nottingham 1,522 5,274 6,796 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 926 3,035 3,961 
			 Rochdale 1,408 4,815 6,223 
			 St. Helens 1,746 4,594 6,340 
			 Sefton 819 2,944 3,763 
			 Solihull 366 667 1,033 
			 South Tyneside 1,090 2,990 4,080 
			 Stockton on Tees 1,582 4,982 6,564 
			 Stoke on Trent 1,441 4,984 6,425 
			 Sunderland 1,900 6,365 8,265 
			 Wirral 1,931 6,197 8,125 
		
	
	
		Allocations to LEAs for EiC Phase 3 partnerships which started from September 2001 -- £000
		
			 LEA 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Barnsley 20 1,298 1,318 
			 Blackburn 20 1,306 1,326 
			 Blackpool 20 936 956 
			 Doncaster 20 1,555 1,575 
			 Enfield 20 1,584 1,604 
			 Hounslow 20 1,456 1,476 
			 Luton 20 1,291 1,311 
			 Oldham 20 1,851 1,871 
			 Sandwell 20 1,973 1,993 
			 Sefton 20 2,522 2,542 
			 Wolverhampton 20 1,982 2,002 
		
	
	
		Allocations to LEAs for Excellence Clusters which started from September 2001 -- £000
		
			 LEA Cluster 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Coventry Coventry 10 611 621 
			 Croydon Croydon 10 559 569 
			 Cumbria West Cumbria 10 454 464 
			 Kent Shepway 10 542 552 
			 Kirklees Dewsbury and Batley 10 688 698 
			 Kirklees Huddersfield 10 658 668 
			 Lancashire West Lancashire 10 399 409 
			 Lancashire East Lancashire 10 540 550 
			 Portsmouth Portsmouth 10 663 673 
			 Tameside Tameside 10 540 550 
			 Thurrock Tilbury and Chadwell — 229 229 
			 Walsall Walsall 10 399 409

Education Action Zones

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many education action zones in England (a) opened and (b) closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: All 73 of the statutory Education Action Zones (EAZs) that have been opened are still in operation. The table shows when each of the EAZs were opened.
	
		
			 EAZ LEA Date zone started 
		
		
			 Barnsley Barnsley September 1998 
			 Blackburn Blackburn with Darwen September 1998 
			 Lambeth Lambeth September 1998 
			 Leicester Leicester City September 1998 
			 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough September 1998 
			 New Addington (Croydon) Croydon September 1998 
			 Newcastle Newcastle-upon-Tyne September 1998 
			 Newham Newham September 1998 
			 Next Steps (Grimsby) North-east Lincolnshire September 1998 
			 North Somerset (Weston) North Somerset September 1998 
			 Salford and Trafford Salford/Trafford September 1998 
			 Herefordshire Herefordshire December 1998 
			 Aston (Birmingham) Birmingham January 1999 
			 Brighton Brighton and Hove January 1999 
			 East Basildon Essex January 1999 
			 Halifax Calderdale January 1999 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull City of Kingston-upon-Hull January 1999 
			 Leigh (Wigan) Wigan January 1999 
			 North Southwark Southwark January 1999 
			 Nottingham City of Nottingham January 1999 
			 Plymouth City of Plymouth January 1999 
			 Shard End/Kitts Green (Birmingham) Birmingham January 1999 
			 Sheffield North-east Sheffield January 1999 
			 South Tyneside South Tyneside January 1999 
			 Thetford (Norfolk) Norfolk January 1999 
			 Greenwich Greenwich September 1999 
			 Oxford Oxfordshire September 1999 
			 Dudley Dudley December 1999 
			 East Manchester Manchester December 1999 
			 Hackney Hackney December 1999 
			 Hastings East Sussex December 1999 
			 Kent Somerset Kent/Somerset December 1999 
			 NE Derbyshire (Coalfields) City of Derby December 1999 
			 North Islington Islington December 1999 
			 Preston Lancashire December 1999 
			 Slough Slough December 1999 
			 Southend Southend on Sea December 1999 
			 Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin December 1999 
			 Wednesbury Sandwell December 1999 
			 Wythenshawe Manchester December 1999 
			 Ashington Northumberland January 2000 
			 Barrow Cumbria January 2000 
			 Bedford Bedfordshire January 2000 
			 Breightmet and Tonge (Bolton) Bolton January 2000 
			 Bridgewater Somerset January 2000 
			 Cambourne Pool Redruth Cornwall January 2000 
			 Clacton and Harwich Essex January 2000 
			 Corby Northamptonshire January 2000 
			 Coventry Coventry January 2000 
			 Dingle Granby Toxteth Liverpool January 2000 
			 Downham and Bellingham Lewisham January 2000 
			 Easington and Seaham Easington and Seaham January 2000 
			 East Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland January 2000 
			 Ellesmere Port (Epicentre Leap) Cheshire January 2000 
			 Gillingham Medway January 2000 
			 Gloucester Gloucester January 2000 
			 Leigh Park (Hampshire) Hampshire January 2000 
			 Peterlee Durham January 2000 
			 South Bradford Bradford January 2000 
			 Speke Garston Liverpool January 2000 
			 Stoke on Trent (Rainbow Zone Stoke-on-Trent January 2000 
			 Sunderland Sunderland January 2000 
			 Wakefield Wakefield January 2000 
			 Withernsea East riding of Yorkshire January 2000 
			 Wolverhampton Wolverhampton January 2000 
			 City of Bristol City of Bristol April 2000 
			 Derby NE (City of) Derby April 2000 
			 Great Yarmouth Norfolk April 2000 
			 North Stockton Stockton-on-Tees April 2000 
			 NW Shropshire Shropshire April 2000 
			 Sheffield SE Sheffield April 2000 
			 South East Virtual Essex and Bromley April 2000 
			 Westminster Westminster May 2000

Education Action Zones

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding each education action zone has attracted for each year since 1997.

Stephen Timms: The Government grant to each statutory education action zone (EAZ) has been as follows:
	
		
			 EAZ 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Ashington 0.00 76,133.13 641,138.71 1,059,839.00 1,777,110.84 
			 Aston (Birmingham) 317,709.35 877,239.43 772,750.00 734,000.00 2,701,698.78 
			 Barnsley 507,500.00 887,635.86 866,326.23 951,163.82 3,212,625.91 
			 Barrow 0.00 10,000.00 714,000.00 721,000.00 1,445,000.00 
			 Bedford 0.00 35,000.00 1,011,222.30 789,000.00 1,835,222.30 
			 Blackburn 613,635.00 960,814.86 909,000.00 738,000.00 3,221,449.86 
			 Breightmet and Tonge (Bolton) 0.00 10,000.00 800,183.76 881,000.00 1,691,183.76 
			 Bridgewater 0.00 19,710.68 570,927.20 706,000.00 1,296,637.88 
			 Brighton 226,124.00 795,193.01 877,790.12 736,000.00 2,635,107.13 
			 Cambourne Pool Redruth 0.00 127,892.54 712,600.00 852,604.17 1,693,096.71 
			 City of Bristol 0.00 0.00 628,000.00 837,990.15 1,465,990.15 
			 Clacton and Harwich 0.00 52,706.94 909,500.00 859,000.00 1,821,206.94 
			 Corby 0.00 0.00 781,000.00 844,000.00 1,625,000.00 
			 Coventry 0.00 41,500.00 721,683.00 1,019,000.00 1,782,183.00 
			 Derby North East (City of) 0.00 0.00 583,000.00 798,000.00 1,381,000.00 
			 Dingle Granby Toxteth 0.00 35,000.00 726,347.77 947,991.15 1,709,338.92 
			 Downham and Bellingham 0.00 10,000.00 659,587.00 811,000.00 1,480,587.00 
			 Dudley 0.00 108,500.00 700,000.00 914,000.00 1,749,500.00 
			 Easington and Seaham 0.00 47,005.82 639,000.00 1,074,000.00 1,760,005.82 
			 East Basildon 367,500.00 918,504.02 823,798.25 695,000.00 2,804,802.27 
			 East Cleveland 0.00 111,108.66 860,906.73 1,009,000.00 1,981,015.39 
			 East Manchester 0.00 234,076.05 765,981.00 808,998.00 1,809,055.05 
			 Ellesmere Port (Epicentre Leap) 0.00 34,741.92 667,032.19 757,500.00 1,459,274.11 
			 Gillingham 0.00 1,867,704.62 743,671.12 897,000.00 1,827,375.74 
			 Gloucester 0.00 25,000.00 831,000.00 1,066,000.00 1,922,000.00 
			 Great Yarmouth 0.00 0.00 684,000.00 975,000.00 1,659,000.00 
			 Greenwich 0.00 496,567.76 898,000.00 1,048,000.00 2,442,567.76 
			 Hackney 0.00 86,415.16 728,720.67 909,000.00 1,724,135.83 
			 Halifax 255,000.00 872,025.63 849,817.29 1,082,555.70 3,059,398.62 
			 Hastings 0.00 19,000.00 867,100.00 861,387.94 1,747,487.94 
			 Herefordshire 605,000.00 862,485.51 871,000.00 683,800.00 3,021,485.51 
			 Kent Somerset 0.00 6,460.16 653,834.08 858,000.00 1,518,294.24 
			 Kingston upon Hull 365,048.00 876,127.25 916,121.15 836,708.00 2,994,004.40 
			 Lambeth 587,500.00 876,363.17 876,446.76 815,106.48 3,155,416.41 
			 Leicester 617,500.00 876,201.00 813,266.00 872,561.61 3,179,528.61 
			 Leigh (Wigan) 252,500.00 829,179.61 878,898.41 837,000.00 2,797,578.02 
			 Leigh Park (Hampshire) 0.00 37,500.00 710,551.00 878,600.00 1,626,651.00 
			 Middlesbrough 517,500.00 866,664.52 837,121.56 847,297.00 3,068,583.08 
			 North East Derbyshire (Colfirlds) 0.00 108,552.53 832,043.62 890,000.00 1,830,596.15 
			 New Addington (Croydon) 517,500.00 832,884.38 827,188.47 753,127.00 2,930,699.85 
			 Newcastle 592,166.50 947,381.87 890,330.27 788,000.00 3,217,878.64 
			 Newham 617,500.00 913,853.24 869,000.00 894,000.00 3,294,353.24 
			 Next Steps (Grimsby) 613,457.73 916,885.00 858,991.94 896,708.00 3,286,042.67 
			 North Islington 0.00 10,000.00 934,000.00 918,000.00 1,862,000.00 
			 North Somerset (Weston) 512,500.00 871,639.87 841,745.00 708,200.00 2,934,084.87 
			 North Southwark 356,472.00 861,652.13 884,002.00 809,000.00 2,911,126.13 
			 North Stockton 0.00 0.00 445,000.00 1,000,000.00 1,445,000.00 
			 Nottingham 267,500.00 818,487.33 910,085.18 881,000.00 2,877,072.51 
			 North West Shropshire 0.00 10,000.00 544,250.00 654,000.00 1,208,250.00 
			 Oxford 0.00 324,190.17 820,000.00 819,000.00 1,963,190.17 
			 Peterlee 0.00 35,240.98 540,000.00 969,000.00 1,544,240.98 
			 Plymouth 262,500.00 828,387.04 875,730.00 755,251.76 2,721,868.80 
			 Preston 0.00 73,681.91 534,830.00 1,106,387.00 1,714,898.91 
			 Salford and Trafford 617,500.00 854,864.40 856,523.40 857,000.00 3,185,887.80 
			 Shard End/Kitts Green (Birmingham) 267,500.00 805,119.67 835,303.59 747,000.00 2,654,923.96 
			 Sheffield North East 312,500.00 906,328.02 917,880.22 817,000.00 2,953,708.24 
			 Sheffield South East 0.00 4,500.00 550,000.00 559,000.00 1,113,500.00 
			 Slough 0.00 168,633.54 529,494.00 869,090.00 1,567,217.54 
			 South Bradford 0.00 197.59 712,000.00 1,004,121.00 1,716,318.59 
			 South East Virtual 0.00 0.00 864,400.00 978,000.00 1,824,400.00 
			 South Tyneside 367,500.00 863,210.34 921,957.00 744,655.98 2,897,323.32 
			 Southend 0.00 230,000.00 716,000.00 848,000.00 1,794,000.00 
			 Speke Garston 0.00 25,000.00 712,345.00 659,306.00 1,396,651.00 
			 Stoke on Trent (Rainbow Zone) 0.00 251,607.02 753,000.00 757,791.26 1,762,398.28 
			 Sunderland 0.00 85,225.00 473,469.00 807,551.00 1,366,245.00 
			 Telford and Wrekin 0.00 130,525.83 685,377.36 854,000.00 1,669,903.19 
			 Thetford (Norfolk) 267,500.00 779,567.64 824,384.87 829,000.00 2,700,452.51 
			 Wakefield 0.00 36,000.00 690,600.00 822,024.00 1,548,624.00 
			 Wednesbury 0.00 51,857.88 929,663.00 632,100.00 1,613,620.88 
			 Westminster 0.00 0.00 493,000.00 699,000.00 1,192,000.00 
			 Withernsea 0.00 92,318.51 910,622.00 1,008,655.00 2,011,595.51 
			 Wolverhampton 0.00 137,155.32 637,802.00 930,327.22 1,705,284.54 
			 Wythenshawe 0.00 37,604.00 789,000.00 879,000.00 1,705,604.00

Education Action Zones

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been provided to each education action zone in each year since its creation, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The Government grant to each statutory education action zone (EAZ) has been as follows:
	
		
			 EAZ LEA 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Total 
		
		
			 Ashington Northumberland 0.00 76,133.13 641,138.71 1,059,839.00 1,777,110.84 
			 Aston (Birmingham) Birmingham 317,709.35 877,239.43 772,750.00 734,000.00 2,701,698.78 
			 Barnsley Barnsley 507,500.00 887,635.86 866,326.23 951,163.82 3,212,625.91 
			 Barrow Cumbria 0.00 10,000.00 714,000.00 721,000.00 1,445,000.00 
			 Bedford Bedfordshire 0.00 35,000.00 1,011,222.30 789,000.00 1,835,222.30 
			 Blackburn Blackburn with Darwen 613,635.00 960,814.86 909,000.00 738,000.00 3,221,449.86 
			 Breightmet and Tonge (Bolton) Bolton 0.00 10,000.00 800,183.76 881,000.00 1,691,183.76 
			 Bridgewater Somerset 0.00 19,710.68 570,927.20 706,000.00 1,296,637.88 
			 Brighton Brighton and Hove 226,124.00 796,193.01 877,790.12 736,000.00 2,635,107.13 
			 Cambourne Pool Redruth Cornwall 0.00 127,892.54 712,600.00 852,604.17 1,693,096.71 
			 City of Bristol City of Bristol 0.00 0.00 628,000.00 837,990.15 1,465,990.15 
			 Clacton and Harwich Essex 0.00 52,706.94 909,500.00 859,000.00 1,821,206.94 
			 Corby Northamptonshire 0.00 0.00 781,000.00 844,000.00 1,625,000.00 
			 Coventry Coventry 0.00 41,500.00 721,683.00 1,019,000.00 1,782,183.00 
			 Derby NE (City of) Derby 0.00 0.00 583,000.00 798,000.00 1,381,000.00 
			 Dingle Granby Toxteth Liverpool 0.00 35,000.00 726,347.77 947,991.15 1,709,338.92 
			 Downham and Bellingham Lewisham 0.00 10,000.00 659,587.00 811,000.00 1,480,587.00 
			 Dudley Dudley 0.00 108,500.00 700,000.00 914,000.00 1,749,500.00 
			 Easington and Seaham Easington and Seaham 0.00 47,005.82 639,000.00 1,074,000.00 1,760,005.82 
			 East Basildon Essex 367,500.00 918,504.02 823,798.25 695,000.00 2,804,802.27 
			 East Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland 0.00 111,108.66 860,906.73 1,009,000.00 1,981,015.39 
			 East Manchester Manchester 0.00 234,076.05 765,981.00 808,998.00 1,809,055.05 
			 Ellesmere Port (Epicentre Leap) Cheshire 0.00 34,741.92 667,032.19 757,500.00 1,459,274.11 
			 Gillingham Medway 0.00 1,867,704.62 743,671.12 897,000.00 1,827,375.74 
			 Gloucester Gloucester 0.00 25,000.00 831,000.00 1,066,000.00 1,922,000.00 
			 Great Yarmouth Norfolk 0.00 0.00 684,000.00 975,000.00 1,659,000.00 
			 Greenwich Greenwich 0.00 496,567.76 898,000.00 1,048,000.00 2,442,567.76 
			 Hackney Hackney 0.00 86,415.16 728,720.67 909,000.00 1,724,135.83 
			 Halifax Calderdale 255,000.00 872,025.63 849,817.29 1,082,555.70 3,059,398.62 
			 Hastings East Sussex 0.00 19,000.00 867,100.00 861,387.94 1,747,487.94 
			 Herefordshire Herefordshire 605,000.00 862,485.51 871,000.00 683,800.00 3,021,485.51 
			 Kent Somerset Kent/Somerset 0.00 6,460.16 653,834.08 858,000.00 1,518,294.24 
			 Kingston upon Hull City of Kingston upon Hull 365,048.00 876,127.25 916,121.15 836,708.00 2,994,004.40 
			 Lambeth Lambeth 587,500.00 876,363.17 876,446.76 815,106.48 3,155,416.41 
			 Leicester Leicester City 617,500.00 876,201.00 813,266.00 872,561.61 3,179,528.61 
			 Leigh (Wigan) Wigan 252,500.00 829,179.61 878,898.41 837,000.00 2,797,578.02 
			 Leigh Park (Hampshire) Hampshire 0.00 37,500.00 710,551.00 878,600.00 1,626,651.00 
			 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough 517,500.00 866,664.52 837,121.56 847,297.00 3,068,583.08 
			 NE Derbyshire (Colfirlds) City of Derby 0.00 108,552.53 832,043.62 890,000.00 1,830,596.15 
			 New Addington (Croydon) Croydon 517,500.00 832,884.38 827,188.47 753,127.00 2,930,699.85 
			 Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne 592,166.50 947,381.87 890,330.27 788,000.00 3,217,878.64 
			 Newham Newham 617,500.00 913,853.24 869,000.00 894,000.00 3,294,353.24 
			 Next Steps (Grimsby) North East Lincolnshire 613,457.73 916,885.00 858,991.94 896,708.00 3,286,042.67 
			 North Islington Islington 0.00 10,000.00 934,000.00 918,000.00 1,862,000.00 
			 North Somerset (Weston) North Somerset 512,500.00 871,639.87 841,745.00 708,200.00 2,934,084.87 
			 North Southwark Southwark 356,472.00 861,652.13 884,002.00 809,000.00 2,911,126.13 
			 North Stockton Stockton on Tees 0.00 0.00 445,000.00 1,000,000.00 1,445,000.00 
			 Nottingham City of Nottingham 267,500.00 818,487.33 910,085.18 881,000.00 2,877,072.51 
			 NW Shropshire Shropshire 0.00 10,000.00 544,250.00 654,000.00 1,208,250.00 
			 Oxford Oxfordshire 0.00 324,190.17 820,000.00 819,000.00 1,963,190.17 
			 Peterlee Durham 0.00 35,240.98 540,000.00 969,000.00 1,544,240.98 
			 Plymouth City of Plymouth 262,500.00 828,387.04 875,730.00 755,251.76 2,721,868.80 
			 Preston Lancashire 0.00 73,681.91 534,830.00 1,106,387.00 1,714,898.91 
			 Salford and Trafford Salford/Trafford 617,500.00 854,864.40 856,523.40 857,000.00 3,185,887.80 
			 Shard End/Kitts Green (Birmingham) Birmingham 267,500.00 805,119.67 835,303.59 747,000.00 2,654,923.96 
			 Sheffield NE Sheffield 312,500.00 906,328.02 917,880.22 817,000.00 2,953,708.24 
			 Sheffield SE Sheffield 0.00 4,500.00 550,000.00 559,000.00 1,113,500.00 
			 Slough Slough 0.00 168,633.54 529,494.00 869,090.00 1,567,217.54 
			 South Bradford Bradford 0.00 197.59 712,000.00 1,004,121.00 1,716,318.59 
			 South East Virtual Essex and Bromley 0.00 0.00 864,400.00 978,000.00 1,824,400.00 
			 South Tyneside South Tyneside 367,500.00 863,210.34 921,957.00 744,655.98 2,897,323.32 
			 Southend Southend on Sea 0.00 230,000.00 716,000.00 848,000.00 1,794,000.00 
			 Speke Garston Liverpool 0.00 25,000.00 712,345.00 659,306.00 1,396,651.00 
			 Stoke on Trent (Rainbow Zone) Stoke on Trent 0.00 251,607.02 753,000.00 757,791.26 1,762,398.28 
			 Sunderland Sunderland 0.00 85,225.00 473,469.00 807,551.00 1,366,245.00 
			 Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin 0.00 130,525.83 685,377.36 854,000.00 1,669,903.19 
			 Thetford (Norfolk) Norfolk 267,500.00 779,567.64 824,384.87 829,000.00 2,700,452.51 
			 Wakefield Wakefield 0.00 36,000.00 690,600.00 822,024.00 1,548,624.00 
			 Wednesbury Sandwell 0.00 51,857.88 929,663.00 632,100.00 1,613,620.88 
			 Westminster Westminster 0.00 0.00 493,000.00 699,000.00 1,192,000.00 
			 Withernsea East Riding of Yorkshire 0.00 92,318.51 910,622.00 1,008,655.00 2,011,595.51 
			 Wolverhampton Wolverhampton 0.00 137,155.32 637,802.00 630,327.22 1,705,284.54 
			 Wythenshawe Manchester 0.00 37,604.00 789,000.00 879,000.00 1,705,604.00

Independent Schools

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) both primary and secondary independent schools have (i) opened and (ii) closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The table shows the number of independent schools that have opened and closed in each local education authority area in England in each of the last five years. The register of independent schools records the age range of pupils in each school which often spans one or more of the early years, primary, secondary and post-16 phases. The register does not categorise independent schools as primary or secondary because many do not conform with maintained school age ranges; for this reason we are unable to distinguish between primary and secondary schools listed in the table.
	
		Number of independent schools that have opened and closed since 1997 in each LEA
		
			   1997 1998 1999 2000 2001  
			  Reference Opened Closed Opened Closed Opened Closed Opened Closed Opened Closed 
		
		
			 North East
			 Hartlepool 805 — — 1 1 — — — — — — 
			 Middlesbrough 806 — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Durham 840 — 1 — — — — — 1 — 1 
			 Northumberland 929 — — — — — — — 1 — — 
			 Gateshead 390 — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 391 — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 South Tyneside 393 — — — — — — — — — 1 
			 Sunderland 394 — — — — — 1 — — — 1 
			 
			 North West and Merseyside
			 North West
			 Halton 876 — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 Warrington 877 — — — — — — — — 1 1 
			 Cheshire 875 — 1 — 1 2 1 — — 1 — 
			 Cumbria 909 — — 1 — — — 1 1 1 2 
			 Bolton 350 — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 Bury 351 — — — — — — 1 1 — — 
			 Manchester 352 1 1 1 — 1 1 2 2 1 1 
			 Rochdale 354 — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Salford 355 1 — — 2 2 — — — — — 
			 Stockport 356 — 2 1 1 — 1 — — — — 
			 Trafford 358 — 1 — — — — — 1 — — 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 889 1 — — — 1 — 1 — 1 — 
			 Blackpool 890 — — — — — — 1 1 — — 
			 Lancashire 888 3 1 3 — 3 1 3 1 4 1 
			 
			 Merseyside
			 Knowsley 340 — — — — — — 1 — 1 — 
			 Liverpool 341 — — 1 — 1 2 2 1 1 — 
			 Sefton 343 — — — 1 — — — 1 — — 
			 Wirral 344 — — — — 1 — — 2 — — 
			 
			 Yorkshire and Humber
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 811 — — — 1 — — — — — — 
			 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 810 — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 York 816 — 2 — — — — — — — — 
			 North Yorkshire 815 1 2 — 1 — 2 — 1 — 3 
			 Barnsley 370 1 — — — — — — — — — 
			 Doncaster 371 — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Sheffield 373 — — 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Bradford 380 — 2 1 1 — — 1 — 1 1 
			 Calderdale 381 — — 1 — 1 — — — — — 
			 Kirklees 382 — — 2 2 1 — — — 1 — 
			 Leeds 383 1 — — 2 1 3 — — — 1 
			 
			 East Midlands
			 Derby 831 — — 1 — — 1 — — — — 
			 Derbyshire 830 1 2 — — 1 — 1 — 1 1 
			 Leicester 856 — 1 — — 1 — 2 — — 1 
			 Leicestershire 855 — — 1 — 1 2 — — 2 — 
			 Lincolnshire 925 — — — — — — 2 3 1 1 
			 Northamptonshire 928 — — — 1 1 1 — 1 — 1 
			 Nottingham 892 — 4 — — — 1 1 — — — 
			 Nottinghamshire 891 — — — — — — — — — 1 
			 
			 West Midlands
			 Herefordshire 884 2 1 — — — 1 — — 2 — 
			 Worcestershire 885 — 1 1 1 — 2 — 3 — 1 
			 Telford and Wrekin 894 — — — — — — 1 — 1 — 
			 Shropshire 893 — — — — 1 1 — — 1 1 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 861 — — — — — — — — — 1 
			 Staffordshire 860 — — 1 — — 1 2 — — 2 
			 Warwickshire 937 1 1 — — 1 1 — 1 — 2 
			 Birmingham 330 2 3 1 — 3 3 1 3 1 3 
			 Coventry 331 1 — 1 — — — — 1 — — 
			 Sandwell 333 — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 Solihull 334 — — — 1 — — — — — — 
			 Walsall 335 — — — — — — 1 — — — 
			 Wolverhampton 336 — — — 1 — — — — — — 
			 
			 Eastern
			 Luton 821 — — — — 1 — — — — — 
			 Bedfordshire 820 — 1 — — — — — — 1 — 
			 Cambridgeshire 873 3 2 1 — 2 1 1 — 1 3 
			 Southend-on-Sea 882 1 — — — — — — 2 — — 
			 Essex 881 — 1 1 2 — 1 — 2 — — 
			 Hertfordshire 919 — 1 1 1 — 3 — 1 1 1 
			 Norfolk 926 — — 1 2 — 2 — — — — 
			 Suffolk 935 — — — — 1 2 1 2 — 1 
			 
			 London
			 Inner London
			 Camden 202 1 — 1 2 2 1 — — — — 
			 Hackney 204 4 1 — 3 2 — 4 1 2 — 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 205 3 1 3 1 — — — 2 — 1 
			 Haringey 309 1 — — 1 1 2 — — — — 
			 Islington 206 1 2 1 — — 1 — — — — 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 207 2 — 1 1 1 1 3 — 1 — 
			 Lambeth 208 2 — 5 1 3 4 2 4 2 1 
			 Lewisham 209 — — 1 — — 1 — 1 1 — 
			 Newham 316 — — 1 — — 1 1 — — — 
			 Southwark 210 1 2 — 1 1 2 1 — 1 1 
			 Tower Hamlets 211 1 1 1 — 1 — 1 — 1 1 
			 Wandsworth 212 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 — 1 — 
			 Westminster 213 — 1 1 — — 1 1 — — 1 
			 
			 Outer London
			 Barnet 302 3 3 — 1 2 — — 1 3 — 
			 Brent 304 — 1 — 1 — — 1 — 2 — 
			 Bromley 305 1 1 — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Croydon 306 — 3 1 — 2 — 3 1 1 — 
			 Ealing 307 — 2 — — 3 1 — — 1 — 
			 Enfield 308 — — 1 — — — — 1 — — 
			 Greenwich 203 2 — — 1 — — 1 — — — 
			 Havering 311 — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 Hillingdon 312 — 1 — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 Hounslow 313 — — 1 1 — 2 — 1 — 1 
			 Kingston upon Thames 314 1 — — — — — — — 1 1 
			 Merton 315 1 2 — 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Redbridge 317 1 — 1 1 — 1 1 — 1 — 
			 Richmond upon Thames 318 — — — — — 1 — 1 — — 
			 Sutton 319 — — — — — — — — — 1 
			 Waltham Forest 320 — — — 1 — — — — 1 — 
			 
			 South East
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 868 — 3 — — — 1 — — — — 
			 West Berkshire 869 — — — — 1 2 — 1 — 1 
			 Reading 870 — — 1 1 — — — 1 — — 
			 Wokingham 872 — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 Milton Keynes 826 — — — — — — 1 — — 1 
			 Buckinghamshire 825 1 2 1 — 2 — — — — — 
			 Brighton and Hove 846 1 — 1 — — 2 — — 2 1 
			 East Sussex 845 3 — 1 2 2 4 1 4 1 1 
			 Southampton 852 — — — 1 — — — — — — 
			 Hampshire 850 — 2 — 1 — 4 2 2 — — 
			 Isle of Wight 921 — 1 — — 1 — — — — 1 
			 Medway 887 — — 1 — 1 — — — — — 
			 Kent 886 5 8 6 1 5 2 1 2 5 3 
			 Oxfordshire 931 — 2 — 3 2 3 — 3 1 1 
			 Surrey 936 4 7 — 2 1 3 — 1 1 2 
			 West Sussex 938 1 — — — — 2 2 2 — 2 
			 
			 South West
			 Bath and North East Somerset 800 — 1 1 1 — 1 — 3 — — 
			 City of Bristol 801 — — — — — — 1 1 — 1 
			 South Gloucestershire 803 — — — — — — — — — 2 
			 Cornwall 908 — — 1 2 1 1 — — — — 
			 Isles of Scilly 420 — — 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Torbay 880 — — — — — — — — — 1 
			 Plymouth 879 — — — — — 1 — 1 1 — 
			 Devon 878 1 4 — — — 4 — — 1 3 
			 Bournemouth 837 — — 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Poole 836 — — — — — — — 1 — — 
			 Dorset 835 1 1 — 1 — — — 2 — — 
			 Gloucestershire 916 — 1 — 1 — 1 — — 1 1 
			 Somerset 933 1 2 1 2 4 4 — 1 2 — 
			 Swindon 866 — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 Wiltshire 865 1 1 1 — 1 2 2 — 1 —

Teacher Work Load

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if her Department has estimated the amount of time spent by (a) head teachers, (b) deputy head teachers, (c) teachers and (d) classroom assistants dealing with (i) Government-produced circulars and (ii) other work, expressed as a proportion of total time worked by head teachers, for each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: My Department does not hold the information requested. The study on teacher work load that we commissioned last year from PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that some 20 per cent. of teachers' time is spent on tasks not directly related to classroom teaching. We recently offered practical advice on how these tasks might be transferred to support staff and Information and Communications Technology. Beyond that, the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) will be reporting on work load shortly. The STRB has been asked among other things to look at possible contractual changes to help teachers to focus on the core of their job.

Edexcel

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will publish the results of the assessment of examination board Edexcel; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The results of the assessment of examination board Edexcel were published on 1 February by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and made available on its website. http://www.qca.org.uk/news/ press/20020201.asp
	My Department made a press announcement on that day as did QCA and the Edexcel Foundation. QCA will continuously review Edexcel's performance against the eight action points agreed between Edexcel and the QCA. The QCA will not be publishing progress reports. However, the first four action points have been satisfactorily met and a report of a review of performance will be made in the autumn.

English for Speakers of Other Languages

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking in conjunction with the Learning and Skills Council to promote and resource English for speakers of other languages, with particular reference to vocational needs.

John Healey: Large numbers of people need access to good quality English language provision if they are to have equal chances of success at work, at home and in society in general. The Government are fully committed to providing tuition for adults who do not speak English as their first language as part of 'Skills for Life', our national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. A core curriculum for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) was published in December 2001 and 2,500 tutors have received training in its use. We are also developing ESOL diagnostic tools and learning materials. We are running a national promotional campaign to boost demand for literacy, language and numeracy learning which has so far resulted in over 70,000 calls to the promotional hotline.
	Improving adult basic skills, including language skills, is also one of the Learning and Skills Council's most important objectives. Its priority was emphasised by the chief executive in his recent letter to all post-16 providers to encourage the expansion of provision to meet our target of improving the basic skills levels of 750,000 adults by 2004. To ensure the resourcing and promotion of basic skills matches local needs and reflects national policy, local LSCs have produced delivery plans, setting out how they intend to increase and improve literacy, language and numeracy provision. These plans also set local targets for participation and achievement in literacy, language and numeracy provision.

Maladministration

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what payments have been made to individuals following findings of maladministration ombudsmen with responsibility for agencies under the remit of her Department in the last 12 months; and what plans she has to review the powers to increase the level of awards that can be made.

Ivan Lewis: Over the past 12 months no payments have been recorded as being made by the Department of Education and Skills as a result of the findings of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (parliamentary ombudsman).
	The Department no longer has any executive agencies under its control. Information on maladministration payments made by Non-Departmental Public Bodies, sponsored by the Department, is not held centrally and could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
	The level of award in maladministration cases is recommended, on an individual basis, by the parliamentary ombudsman and is not decided by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills.

Asylum Seekers

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list by education authority the number of children of asylum seekers and refugees with English language difficulties who are not being counted as being at school for the purposes of calculating annual primary and secondary performance tables.

Ivan Lewis: We received a number of requests from schools to discount children who had recently arrived from overseas (including children of asylum seekers and refugees) from the 2001 school performance tables.
	For the primary school tables, a total of 1,648 children were discounted from the published results in the performance tables.
	For the secondary school tables, a total of 1,559 children were discounted. A breakdown by local education authority, for the primary school and secondary school tables respectively, is provided.
	
		Numbers of children recently arrived from overseas discounted from 2001 performance tables
		
			 Local education authority Number of children discounted 
		
		
			 Primary school performance tables  
			 Barking and Dagenham 23 
			 Barnet 43 
			 Barnsley 3 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 3 
			 Bedfordshire 7 
			 Bexley 5 
			 Birmingham 42 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 5 
			 Bolton 8 
			 Bournemouth 7 
			 Bracknell Forest 3 
			 Bradford 23 
			 Brent 78 
			 Brighton and Hove 7 
			 Bristol, City of 9 
			 Bromley 4 
			 Buckinghamshire 5 
			 Calderdale 1 
			 Cambridgeshire 2 
			 Camden 13 
			 Cheshire 3 
			 Coventry 24 
			 Croydon 33 
			 Cumbria 1 
			 Derby City 6 
			 Derbyshire 2 
			 Devon 2 
			 Doncaster 4 
			 Dorset 1 
			 Dudley 5 
			 Durham 1 
			 Ealing 53 
			 East Sussex 4 
			 Enfield 55 
			 Essex 12 
			 Gateshead 2 
			 Gloucestershire 3 
			 Greenwich 28 
			 Hackney 44 
			 Halton 1 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 27 
			 Hampshire 7 
			 Haringey 66 
			 Harrow 32 
			 Havering 6 
			 Hertfordshire 12 
			 Hillingdon 14 
			 Hounslow 34 
			 Islington 7 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 23 
			 Kent 26 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 6 
			 Kingston upon Thames 21 
			 Kirklees 4 
			 Lambeth 19 
			 Lancashire 8 
			 Leeds 12 
			 Leicester City 40 
			 Leicester 4 
			 Lewisham 31 
			 Lincolnshire 3 
			 Liverpool 24 
			 Luton 16 
			 Manchester 41 
			 Medway 2 
			 Merton 10 
			 Milton Keynes 10 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 22 
			 Newham 116 
			 Norfolk 3 
			 North East Lincolnshire 1 
			 North Lincolnshire 1 
			 North Tyneside 2 
			 North Yorkshire 3 
			 Northamptonshire 11 
			 Nottingham City 9 
			 Nottinghamshire 3 
			 Oldham 10 
			 Oxfordshire 19 
			 Peterborough City 8 
			 Plymouth 8 
			 Portsmouth 1 
			 Reading 10 
			 Redbridge 32 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 2 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2 
			 Rochdale 3 
			 Salford 11 
			 Sandwell 4 
			 Sefton 4 
			 Sheffield 33 
			 Slough 4 
			 Solihull 2 
			 Somerset 1 
			 South Gloucestershire 2 
			 South Tyneside 2 
			 Southampton 3 
			 Southend-on-Sea 4 
			 Southwark 51 
			 Staffordshire 1 
			 Stockport 2 
			 Stockton on Tees 2 
			 Stoke on Trent 4 
			 Suffolk 8 
			 Sunderland 4 
			 Surrey 5 
			 Sutton 7 
			 Swindon 7 
			 Tameside 2 
			 Tower Hamlets 25 
			 Trafford 4 
			 Wakefield 1 
			 Walsall 3 
			 Waltham Forest 30 
			 Wandsworth 36 
			 Warrington 1 
			 Warwickshire 4 
			 West Berkshire 1 
			 West Sussex 4 
			 Westminster, City of 20 
			 Wigan 3 
			 Wiltshire 2 
			 Wolverhampton 2 
			 Worcestershire 2 
			 York, City of 1 
			   
			 Secondary school performance tables  
			 Barking and Dagenham 20 
			 Barnet 41 
			 Bedfordshire 14 
			 Bexley 1 
			 Birmingham 32 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 1 
			 Blackpool 2 
			 Bolton 2 
			 Bournemouth 1 
			 Bradford 10 
			 Brent 60 
			 Brighton and Hove 23 
			 Bristol, City of 6 
			 Buckinghamshire 2 
			 Bury 2 
			 Calderdale 5 
			 Cambridgeshire 8 
			 Camden 16 
			 Cheshire 2 
			 Coventry 20 
			 Croydon 78 
			 Cumbria 6 
			 Derbyshire 10 
			 Dorset 7 
			 Dudley 2 
			 Durham 4 
			 Ealing 63 
			 East Sussex 16 
			 Enfield 30 
			 Essex 18 
			 Gateshead 2 
			 Gloucestershire 14 
			 Greenwich 23 
			 Hackney 25 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 40 
			 Hampshire 6 
			 Haringey 59 
			 Harrow 41 
			 Havering 2 
			 Hertfordshire 11 
			 Hillingdon 7 
			 Hounslow 34 
			 Islington 49 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 33 
			 Kent 27 
			 Kingston upon Thames 7 
			 Lewisham 20 
			 Lincolnshire 1 
			 Liverpool 1 
			 Luton 17 
			 Manchester 30 
			 Medway 5 
			 Merton 22 
			 Milton Keynes 7 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 4 
			 Newham 72 
			 Norfolk 6 
			 North East Lincolnshire 2 
			 North Tyneside 3 
			 North Yorkshire 8 
			 Northamptonshire 10 
			 Nottingham City 2 
			 Nottinghamshire 1 
			 Oldham 2 
			 Oxfordshire 14 
			 Peterborough City 2 
			 Plymouth 4 
			 Reading 5 
			 Redbridge 29 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 1 
			 Rotherham 1 
			 Sandwell 2 
			 Sheffield 26 
			 Shropshire 22 
			 Slough 7 
			 Solihull 1 
			 Somerset 6 
			 South Gloucestershire 1 
			 Southwark 69 
			 Staffordshire 1 
			 Suffolk 16 
			 Surrey 16 
			 Swindon 1 
			 Tameside 2 
			 The Wrekin 2 
			 Torbay 4 
			 Tower Hamlets 20 
			 Trafford 1 
			 Waltham Forest 68 
			 Wandsworth 16 
			 Warrington 1 
			 West Berkshire 1 
			 West Sussex 3 
			 Westminster, City of 4 
			 Wiltshire 2 
			 Wolverhampton 17 
			 Worcestershire 2

Asylum Seekers

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list by education authority the amount of money paid in 2001–02 by her Department to support the education costs of children of asylum seekers dispersed to cluster areas under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

Ivan Lewis: £1.5 million was made available in 2000–01 to support the education costs of children of asylum seekers dispersed to cluster areas under the Immigration and Asylum Act. This amounted to £500 per child and was to be used to help settle these children into school quickly. This funding was rolled forward into 2001–02 and, due to a greater number of eligible children, was increased to £2,377,000. Thus allowing this Department to continue to make a payment of £500 per child.
	In addition, all schools with children of asylum seekers on their school roll, including those in the dispersal areas, receive funding for them in the same way as they do for all other children through the education standard spending assessment. In addition, there is support through the ethnic minority achievement grant. All local education authorities are eligible for this grant which totals around £154 million this year. The purpose of this grant is to support minority ethnic children at risk of underachieving and provide support to those for whom English is an additional language, including the children of asylum seekers and refugees.
	The list of authorities in receipt of funding is as follows:
	
		Asylum seekers grant allocations 2001–02
		
			 LEA name Amount of funding 
		
		
			 Barnsley 23,500 
			 Birmingham 75,500 
			 Blackburn 13,500 
			 Bolton 65,000 
			 Bradford 78,500 
			 Brighton 7,500 
			 Bristol 10,000 
			 Bury 26,500 
			 Calderdale 16,500 
			 Coventry 36,500 
			 Darlington 500 
			 Derby 64,000 
			 Doncaster 35,000 
			 Dudley 11,000 
			 Gateshead 41,000 
			 Hants 2,000 
			 Hartlepool 9,000 
			 Kingston 31,500 
			 Kirklees 31,000 
			 Lancashire 4,500 
			 Leeds 108,000 
			 Leicester 51,000 
			 Leicestershire 1,500 
			 Lincolnshire 2,500 
			 Liverpool 124,000 
			 Manchester 425,500 
			 Middlesbrough 44,500 
			 Newcastle 131,500 
			 Newham 1,500 
			 North Tyneside 34,000 
			 Nottingham 128,000 
			 Oldham 9,000 
			 Peterborough 6,000 
			 Plymouth 9,500 
			 Portsmouth 4,000 
			 Redcar 30,500 
			 Rochdale 51,500 
			 Rotherham 21,000 
			 Salford 101,500 
			 Sandwell 30,000 
			 Sefton 10,000 
			 Sheffield 148,500 
			 South Tyneside 20,500 
			 Stockport 17,000 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 10,500 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 16,000 
			 Sunderland 30,000 
			 Tameside 11,500 
			 Trafford 19,000 
			 Wakefield 29,000 
			 Walsall 19,000 
			 Wigan 50,500 
			 Wolverhampton 98,000 
			  
			 Total 2,377,000

Special Educational Needs

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of primary schools have additional facilities for children with special needs.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is not available centrally.

Special Educational Needs

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children had statements of special educational needs in England in (a) 2001, (b) 1996 and (c) 1991.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN) in all schools in England—position in January each year
		
			   1991 1996 2001(38) 
		
		
			 Nursery
			 Pupils with statements 264 425 600 
			 Pupils on roll 52,237 52,284 45,000 
			 Incidence (%) 0.5 0.8 1.3 
			 
			 Primary
			 Pupils with statements 32,655 61,698 75,300 
			 Pupils on roll 4,047,136 4,389,364 4,406,200 
			 Incidence (%) 0.8 1.4 1.7 
			 
			 Secondary
			 Pupils with statements 29,056 65,137 82,100 
			 Pupils on roll 2,773,540 3,010,416 3,231,800 
			 Incidence (%) 0.8 2.2 2.5 
			 
			 Special(39)
			 Pupils with statements 85,632 92,450 91,900 
			 Pupils on roll 97,763 98,076 95,600 
			 Incidence (%) 87.6 94.3 96.1 
			 
			 Pupil Referral Units(39)
			 Pupils with statements (41)— 1,828 1,800 
			 Pupils on roll (41)— 6,872 9,300 
			 Incidence (%) (41)— 26.6 19.4 
			 
			 Independent(40)
			 Pupils with statements 5,621 5,810 6,600 
			 Pupils on roll 565,927 559,531 586,200 
			 Incidence (%) 1.0 1.0 1.1 
			 
			 All schools
			 Pupils with statements 153,228 227,348 258,200 
			 Pupils on roll 7,536,603 8,116,543 8,374,100 
			 Incidence (%) 2.0 2.8 3.1 
		
	
	(38) Estimates have been made for January 2001 because the data for SEN are known to be incomplete.
	(39) Excluding dually registered pupils.
	(40) Including Direct Grant Nursery Schools and City Technology Colleges.
	(41) Pupil Referral Units did not exist prior to 1995.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Foreign Schoolchildren

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of children who are (a) citizens of other EU countries and (b) citizens of other non-EU countries studying in schools in England in each of the last five years.

Stephen Timms: This information is not collected centrally.

Ministerial Visits (Schools)

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the schools which have been visited on more than one occasion by Ministers in DfEE and DfES since 1 May 1997 giving in each case (a) the date, (b) the purpose of the visit and (c) the identity of the Minister.

Ivan Lewis: The information in the form requested is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

School Toilet Facilities

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of new outside toilet facilities installed in schools in England in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The Department does not collect information on construction of toilet facilities in schools.

Modern Languages

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in secondary schools receive tuition in (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish and (d) another modern foreign language; and in each case what percentage this constitutes of the total number of pupils in secondary schools.

Ivan Lewis: The School and College Performance Tables give information on how many pupils are entered for GCSE and A-level examinations. In 2000–01 entries for GCSE and A-level for (a) French totalled 321,200 and 15,170 respectively, for (b) German totalled 130,623 and 7,488, for (c) Spanish totalled 45,626 and 4,447 and for (d) all other languages, entries totalled 20,317 and 3,478.
	Expressed as a percentage of all 15-year-old pupils attending school, the GCSE entries for each language represented 53.2 per cent. (French), 21.6 per cent. (German), 7.6 per cent. (Spanish) and 3.4 per cent. (other). The A-level entries expressed as a percentage of all 17 to 18-year-old candidates are 6.8 per cent. (French), 3.3 per cent. (German), 2.0 per cent. (Spanish) and 1.6 per cent. (other).
	Data are not collected on how many pupils choose to study a language but do not go on to take an examination.

Modern Languages

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of children in each year of (a) Key Stage 1 and (b) Key Stage 2 who receive tuition in modern foreign languages in maintained schools; and what percentage that number is of the total for each year group.

Ivan Lewis: One in five primary schools currently offer some form of language learning at Key Stage 2. As language learning is not a compulsory element of the primary curriculum, it is not possible to give more detailed information.

Modern Languages

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of (a) the number and (b) the percentage of pupils aged 14 years and over who would choose not to study a modern foreign language if the national curriculum requirement were ended.

Ivan Lewis: We are currently undertaking an extensive consultation on a range of proposals including the position of modern foreign languages in our Green Paper, "14–19: extending opportunities, raising standards". Our proposal for languages would allow all young people a statutory entitlement to study a modern foreign language but they would have no obligation to do so. Latest figures suggest that around 36,000 pupils are covered by the disapplication arrangements regarding modern foreign languages at Key Stage 4. We have made no estimates at this stage of the effect of our proposals on the study of modern foreign languages at Key Stage 4.

Modern Languages

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of additional language teachers which would be required for all maintained schools to offer a modern foreign language at Key Stages 1 and 2.

Ivan Lewis: Our ambition that all primary school children will be entitled to study languages by 2012 is one of a number of proposals set out in our consultation pamphlet "Language Learning". The consultation period ends on 31 May.
	We recognise the need to raise the number of primary teachers trained to teach languages and will develop our long-term language learning and teaching strategy in the light of the responses to our consultation. The Languages National Steering Group, chaired by my ministerial colleague Baroness Catherine Ashton, is developing that strategy which will be published in the autumn.

Capita

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if Capita will participate in individual learning account successor schemes; and if she will make a statement.

John Healey: There will be a replacement ILA-type scheme building on the strengths of the ILA and taking into account the findings of the current stakeholder consultation exercise which are due in early April. We will announce our plans for introducing the new scheme, including delivery arrangements, in due course.

Capita

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will publish the quality control directives given to Capita in relation to the operation of the individual learning account scheme.

John Healey: Capita Business Services Ltd. are required to meet a range of service standards as part of their contract to operate the individual learning account scheme. Although the precise nature of these is a matter between the Department and Capita, performance against the standards is appraised by the Department on a monthly basis.

Correspondence

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the target time will be in 2002–03 for (a) Ministers to reply to letters from hon. Members and (b) officials in her Department to reply to letters received directly from members of the public.

Ivan Lewis: The correspondence standard in the Department for Education and Skills is to reply to 95 per cent. of all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt. The target will remain the same for 2002–03.

School Funding (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how much funding has been allocated to the City of York Council for repairs to school buildings in each year since it became a unitary authority, including funding delegated direct to schools;
	(2)  how much funding has been allocated to the City of York Council for new or modernised classrooms in each year since it became a unitary authority, including funding delegated direct to schools;
	(3)  how much funding has been allocated to the City of York Council or delegated direct to schools for (a) new build, (b) modernisation and (c) repairs over the next three years.

John Healey: We do not hold information in the form requested. Much capital support for school buildings is allocated to Local Education Authorities and schools on a formulaic basis. Records of how it is utilised for specific projects are held locally. However, the table sets out the capital allocations made to date to York Local Education Authority (LEA) and its schools from 1996–97 to 2003–04.
	
		Allocations to York Local Education Authority by the department for education and skills for school accommodation 1996–97 to 2003–04 -- £000
		
			 Financial year New deals for schools 1–4 allocations(42) Other capital allocations Grand total 
		
		
			 1996–97 n/a 800 800 
			 1997–98 180 1,083 1,263 
			 1998–99 691 775 1,466 
			 1999–2000 1,626 2,544 4,170 
			 2000–01 2,065 4,722 6,787 
			 2001–02 n/a 4,135 4,135 
			 2002–03(43) n/a 7,763 7,763 
			 2003–04(43) n/a 4,759 4,759 
		
	
	(42) This covers allocations made under the original New Deal for Schools programme, which utilised resources raised from the Windfall Tax in order to address the backlog of repairs.
	(43) Includes allocations made as of 31 March 2002, including £3 million allocated in 2002–03 from the Targeted Capital Fund.

School Funding (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage change in real terms was in education SSA in the City of York in each year since it became a unitary authority, including funding delegated direct to schools.

Stephen Timms: York became a unitary authority in 1996–97. Its Education SSA in real and cash terms is as follows.
	
		York's SSA increases
		
			  Real terms Cash terms  
			 Year Total SSA (£ million) Annual increase (Percentage) Total SSA (£ million) Annual increase (Percentage) 
		
		
			 1996–97 58,30 n/a 52.79 n/a 
			 1997–98 55.91 -4.11 52.18 -1.16 
			 1998–99 59.49 6.40 57.08 9.38 
			 1999.00 61.39 3.19 60.32 5.68 
			 2000–01 63.44 3.35 63.44 5.17 
			 2001–02 64.28 1.32 65.89 3.85 
			 2002–03 66.25 3.07 69.60 5.64 
			 1996–97 7.95 13.63 16.81 31.84 
		
	
	(44) Change since
	Notes
	1. Figures reflect all sub-blocks of the Education SSA. The Private and Voluntary Institutions' element of the SSA that replaced Nursery Education Grant funding is not included in the figures for 2001–02 and 2002–03.
	2. In 1997–98 £527 million was taken out of the SSA to fund the nursery voucher scheme.
	3. Real terms figures are calculated using GDP deflators published by the Treasury on 20 December 2001
	4. 2002–03 figures are gross of the Learning and Skills Council allocation.

Class Sizes

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what the average class size is in Lincolnshire secondary schools; and what the figure was in 1997;
	(2)  what the average class size is in Lincolnshire primary schools; and what the figure was in 1997.

John Healey: The information requested is shown in the table
	
		Average size of one teacher classes in maintained primary and secondary schools in Lincolnshire and England -- January each year
		
			Primary  Secondary  
			   1997 2001 1997 2001 
		
		
			 England 27.5 26.7 21.7 22.0 
			 Lincolnshire 26.9 26.6 20.2 21.4 
		
	
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Class Sizes

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in primary schools in each LEA area in Lancashire was in each year since 1997.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is shown in the table:
	
		Maintained primary schools in Lancashire -- Average class size(45)Position in January each year
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Lancashire(46) 28.8 28.9 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Lancashire(47) n/a n/a 28.2 27.7 27.3 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a n/a 29.0 28.8 28.1 
			 Blackpool n/a n/a 30.0 29.4 28.3 
			 England 27.5 27.7 27.4 27.1 26.7 
		
	
	(45) One teacher classes
	(46) Before local government reorganisation
	(47) After local government reorganisation
	n/a = not applicable
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Private Finance Initiative

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills of the applications for provisional support for schools PPP projects in 2003–04, (a) how many failed and (b) what the total value was of the applications that were turned down.

John Healey: 33 applications in this bidding round were unsuccessful, with a combined value of approximately £1.936 billion. 21 projects have been selected for provisional support, with a combined value of £939 million.

Standard-setting Bodies

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will name the organisations recognised by her Department as standard setting bodies and under section 36 of the Education Act 1997 specified as appropriate bodies to receive financial assistance from levy income collected from persons who award vocational qualifications; and whether national training organisations will lose such status in consequence of withdrawal of their overall recognition by the Department.

John Healey: Until 31 March 2002 all national training organisations and a few other bodies were recognised as standards setting bodies. From 1 April all NTOs ceased to have the formal recognition of the Department. The withdrawal of recognition applies also to their status as standards setting bodies.
	No bodies were specified under Section 36 of the Education Act 1997. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) acting jointly with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) administers a fund for the development of national occupations standards based on a certification fee charged on NVQs and SVQs. A remit letter from the Department instructs QCA as to which bodies may receive financial assistance.
	Future arrangements are being considered in the light of the recent report by the Independent Review of National Occupational Standards, chaired by John Hillier, the establishment of the Sector Skills Development Agency from 1 April 2002, and the new stronger sector councils we are putting in place. In the short term we will ensure there are suitable arrangements in place so that essential national occupational standards work can continue.

Individual Learning Accounts

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what EU money supported the ILA scheme; and how it was distributed.

John Healey: The Individual Learning Account programme was not supported by European Union money. In England, the programme was funded centrally by the Department and by £127.5 million of existing TEC resources.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in her Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Estelle Morris: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget Report on 17 April. For 2001–02 the initial Departmental Expenditure Limit appears in the Departmental Report (Cm 5102), published March 2001, and subsequently changed following the Winter Supplementary Estimate (Cm 5335), published November 2001, and the Spring Supplementary Estimate, (Cm 5385) published in February 2002.

Maintained Grammar Schools

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of places in maintained grammar schools in each of the last five years.

Stephen Timms: The Department does not regularly collect information on the number of school places in any type of school. The 164 grammar schools in England account for just over 4 per cent. of the maintained secondary school population.

School Boarding Places

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of boarding places available in maintained schools in England in each of the last five years.

Stephen Timms: No estimate is available because this information is not held centrally.

Legal Action

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what has been the cost to her Department of legal actions involving the adjudicator established under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Stephen Timms: The Department has incurred costs of £77,934, since 1999, as a result of the judicial reviews of cases dealt with by the Schools Adjudicator.

Teacher Assaults

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers in maintained schools have been the victims of serious assaults by (a) pupils and (b) parents in each of the last five years.

Stephen Timms: My Department does not collect this information.
	We deplore abuse by parents and others against teachers. We already have legal remedies in place to combat this, including injunctions, and prosecution for criminal damage, common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. We have made it clear that, where necessary, pupils can be excluded from school for assaulting a teacher, and we intend to make Parenting Orders available for parents of pupils who receive several fixed period exclusions from school or a permanent exclusion.

Grammar Schools

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what has been the cost of servicing (a) petitions and (b) ballots on the future of grammar schools in each year since the introduction of the ballot regulations.

Stephen Timms: The Education (Grammar School Ballots) Regulations came into effect on 3 December 1998. Since then, there have been 39 requests for petition thresholds to be set, and one ballot has been held. To date, we have spent a total of £436,806.26 on petitions and ballots, as follows:
	
		£ 
		
			 Petition year (a) Petition costs (b) Ballot costs Total for year 
		
		
			 1998–99 22,778.81 0 22,778.81 
			 1999–2000 216,283.51 1,708.07 218,063.58 
			 2000–01 58,285.36 0 58,285.36 
			 2001–02 137,678.51 0 137,678.51 
			  
			 Totals 435,026.19 1,780.07 436,806.26

Grammar Schools

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many grammar schools have held ballots on their future status; and what were the results of those ballots in each year since 1997.

Stephen Timms: Grammar school ballots legislation came into effect in December 1998, and since then one ballot has been held in respect of Ripon Grammar School; parents in the area voted 2–1 in favour of keeping selective admissions.

School Sixth Forms

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations she has received from (a) schools with sixth forms and (b) local education authorities regarding the operation of learning and skills councils in respect of funding school sixth forms; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend has received representations from a number of school headteachers, deputy headteachers and local education authorities.
	The Real Term Guarantee given to sixth forms means that their funding will be maintained relative to 2000–01 funding levels, provided pupil numbers are maintained. The Learning and Skills Council has calculated two figures for each sixth form—its RTG and its LSC formula allocation—and the school will receive the higher of the two. The Financing of Maintained School Regulations 2002 have been amended to ensure that sixth forms funded through the LSC formula see some benefit. Schools should gain a minimum of one third of the potential benefit from the LSC's allocations for 2002–03. We intend to amend the regulations further for 2003–04 to ensure that such schools have a minimum two-thirds gain in that year.

Teachers' Pension Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) active members, (b) premature retirements, (c) ill-health retirements and (d) age retirements there were from the Teachers' Pension Scheme in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is provided in the following table. Data on active members are obtained from returns submitted by employers. Not all returns have yet been received in respect of 2000–01. Data relating to numbers of retirements have been provided by the scheme administrators.
	
		
			 Financial year Active members Premature retirements Ill health retirements Actuarially reduced benefits Age retirements 
		
		
			 1991–92 535,400 10,300 4,700 — 4,400 
			 1992–93 532,100 12,200 4,900 — 4,400 
			 1993–94 539,200 12,200 5,600 — 4,500 
			 1994–95 550,300 10,600 6,100 — 4,600 
			 1995–96 563,200 13,100 6,000 — 4,500 
			 1996–97 557,800 16,000 6,300 — 4,500 
			 1997–98 561,600 19,100 4,100 — 4,900 
			 1998–99 570,600 2,900 2,700 — 5,300 
			 1999–2000 575,700 3,100 2,700 — 5,900 
			 2000–01 (48)— 3,100 3,000 900 6,100 
		
	
	(48) Not yet available

Teachers' Pension Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the contribution rate for teachers' employers will, following the next quinquennial review of the scheme by the Government Actuary, be based on a valuation that includes increases in pensions.

Stephen Timms: The valuation of the scheme currently being conducted by the Government Actuary, and future valuations, will include the cost of providing annual increases to pensions in payment.

Teachers' Pension Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment her Department has made of the impact of increased salary costs of teachers on the required contribution rate for the Teachers' Pension Scheme.

Stephen Timms: In determining the required contribution rate at each actuarial review, the Government Actuary allows for future increases in salaries arising from general salary inflation and from promotion or scale increments. Details of the most recent assumptions are included in the Government Actuary's report on the actuarial review as at 31 March 1996. The actuarial review as at 31 March 2001 will reflect increases in salaries and the extent to which they differ from the assumed increases at the 1996 review. I expect to have the Government Actuary's report on the 2001 review by the end of this year.

Teachers' Pension Scheme

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the funds held by the Teacher Superannuation Fund, broken down by (a) asset type and (b) share holdings.

Stephen Timms: The Teachers' Pension Scheme is an unfunded scheme. There are, therefore, no assets or shareholdings.

School Exclusions

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was spent by her Department in pursuing legal action against children who have been (a) temporarily and (b) permanently excluded from school for each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: None. My Department does not pursue legal action against children who have been excluded from school.

School Exclusions

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) temporary and (b) permanent exclusions were made by (i) primary, (ii) secondary and (iii) all schools in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: A table showing the available information has been placed in the House of Commons Library.
	Information on fixed term (temporary) exclusions in not collected centrally.
	Information on permanent exclusions is collected only from maintained primary and secondary schools and special schools.

City Academies and Beacon Schools

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have become (a) city academies and (b) beacon schools in each year since the beginning of the scheme, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: No city academies have yet been established. It is expected that the first three will begin operating in September 2002. The beacon school programme was launched in 1998. The number of beacon schools established each year was:
	1998: 75
	1999: 125
	2000: 350
	2001: 450.
	The network currently consists of 1,000 schools. The breakdown by local education authority is as follows:
	
		
			 LEA Beacon schools 
		
		
			 Barking 2 
			 Barnet 8 
			 Barnsley 3 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 4 
			 Bedfordshire 7 
			 Bexley 3 
			 Birmingham 28 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 4 
			 Blackpool 4 
			 Bolton 8 
			 Bournemouth 4 
			 Bracknell Forest 3 
			 Bradford 13 
			 Brent 7 
			 Brighton and Hove 4 
			 Bromley 6 
			 Buckinghamshire 12 
			 Bury 6 
			 Calderdale 4 
			 Cambridgeshire 9 
			 Camden 9 
			 Cheshire 14 
			 City of Bristol 4 
			 City of London 1 
			 Cornwall 12 
			 Coventry 4 
			 Croydon 6 
			 Cumbria 11 
			 Darlington 2 
			 Derby 6 
			 Derbyshire 13 
			 Devon 7 
			 Doncaster 6 
			 Dorset 3 
			 Dudley 3 
			 Durham 10 
			 Ealing 5 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 4 
			 East Sussex 7 
			 Enfield 6 
			 Essex 9 
			 Gateshead 7 
			 Gloucestershire 14 
			 Greenwich 7 
			 Hackney 4 
			 Halton 3 
			 Hammersmith 5 
			 Hampshire 20 
			 Haringey 4 
			 Hartlepool 5 
			 Havering 4 
			 Herefordshire 4 
			 Hertfordshire 14 
			 Hillingdon 3 
			 Hounslow 5 
			 Isle of Wight 2 
			 Islington 5 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 8 
			 Kent 18 
			 Kingston upon Thames 4 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 5 
			 Kirklees 7 
			 Knowsley 8 
			 Lambeth 10 
			 Lancashire 26 
			 Leeds 13 
			 Leicester 5 
			 Leicestershire 3 
			 Lewisham 7 
			 Lincolnshire 2 
			 Liverpool 16 
			 Luton 2 
			 Manchester 12 
			 Medway Towns 5 
			 Merton 3 
			 Middlesbrough 4 
			 Milton Keynes 4 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 4 
			 Newham 7 
			 Norfolk 12 
			 North East Lincolnshire 5 
			 North Lincolnshire 3 
			 North Somerset 2 
			 North Tyneside 8 
			 North Yorkshire 11 
			 Northamptonshire 9 
			 Northumberland 8 
			 Nottingham City 6 
			 Nottinghamshire 8 
			 Oldham 5 
			 Oxfordshire 7 
			 Peterborough 5 
			 Plymouth 3 
			 Poole 3 
			 Portsmouth 5 
			 Reading 3 
			 Redbridge 4 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 3 
			 Richmond upon Thames 7 
			 Rochdale 6 
			 Rotherham 8 
			 Rutland 2 
			 Salford 7 
			 Sandwell 4 
			 Sefton 12 
			 Sheffield 8 
			 Shropshire 6 
			 Slough 2 
			 Solihull 8 
			 Somerset 8 
			 South Gloucestershire 4 
			 South Tyneside 8 
			 Southampton 5 
			 Southend-on-Sea 4 
			 Southwark 7 
			 St. Helens 8 
			 Staffordshire 10 
			 Stockport 9 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 3 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 4 
			 Suffolk 12 
			 Sunderland 7 
			 Surrey 19 
			 Sutton 3 
			 Swindon 2 
			 Tameside 4 
			 Telford and the Wrekin 5 
			 Thurrock 2 
			 Torbay 3 
			 Tower Hamlets 8 
			 Trafford 5 
			 Wakefield 7 
			 Walsall 2 
			 Waltham Forest 5 
			 Wandsworth 10 
			 Warrington 4 
			 Warwickshire 6 
			 West Berkshire 4 
			 West Sussex 14 
			 Westminster 6 
			 Wigan 7 
			 Wiltshire 7 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 3 
			 Wirral 15 
			 Wokingham 1 
			 Wolverhampton 4 
			 Worcestershire 6 
			 York 4

Specialist Schools

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have become specialist schools in each year since the beginning of the scheme, broken down by (a) specialism and (b) local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The information is given in a table which has been placed in the Library.

Special Schools

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many special schools have closed in each of the last seven years.

Stephen Timms: The number of special schools that have closed in each of the last seven years are:
	
		
			 Year Number 
		
		
			 1996 28 
			 1997 32 
			 1998 35 
			 1999 35 
			 2000 33 
			 2001 31 
			 2002 1 
			  
			 Total 195

Parental Choice

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children failed to gain a place at the (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school of their first choice in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The Department does not keep statistics on how many children fail to gain a place at primary, secondary and special schools of their first choice. It is possible, however, that local education authorities might collect this type of information individually.

Teachers (Early Leavers)

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers left the profession in each year since 1997; and what proportion had taught for (a) less than three years, (b) between three and five years, (c) between five and 10 years, (d) between 10 and 15 years and (e) more than 15 years, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The numbers of teachers leaving regular full or part-time service in the maintained schools sector in England were as follows. For each local education authority the numbers leaving (in bold type) and the proportions of these leavers with different lengths of service are given. The latest provisional data available are for 31 March 2000 and has been placed in the Libraries.

Teacher Dismissals

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many teachers have been dismissed from their post (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) since June 2001, broken down by local education authority;
	(2)  how many (a) head teachers, (b) deputy head teachers and (c) classroom assistants have been dismissed from their post in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority;
	(3)  how many teachers have been suspended for misconduct from (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) special and (d) all schools in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority;
	(4)  how many (a) classroom assistants, (b) deputy headteachers and (c) headteachers were suspended for misconduct from (i) primary, (ii) secondary and (iii) special, and (iv) all schools, in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The Department does not collect this information.

Grant-maintained Schools

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many former grant-maintained schools have gained (a) specialist, (b) beacon and (c) city academy status in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The number of former grant-maintained schools which have gained (a) specialist and (b) beacon status is provided in the tables. For (c), city academies, none of the schools involved were grant-maintained.
	
		Number of former grant-maintained schools designated as specialist schools by year by specialism by LEA
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Barnet, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Barnsley — — — — — — 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 2 — — — — — 
			 Bedfordshire — — 1 — — 1 
			 Bexley, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Birmingham 1 — — 3 2 — 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 1 — — — — — 
			 Blackpool — — — — — — 
			 Bolton — — — — — — 
			 Bournemouth — — — 2 — — 
			 Bracknell Forest — — — — — — 
			 Bradford 1 — — 1 — — 
			 Brent, LB of — — — — 1 — 
			 Brighton and Hove — — — — — — 
			 Bristol, city of — — — — — — 
			 Bromley, LB of — — — — 1 1 
			 Buckinghamshire 1 — — — — — 
			 Bury — — — — — — 
			 Calderdale — — — — — 1 
			 Cambridgeshire — — 1 — 1 — 
			 Camden, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Cheshire — 1 — — — — 
			 Corporation of London — — — — — — 
			 Cornwall — — — — — — 
			 Coventry — — — — — — 
			 Croydon, LB of — 1 — — — 1 
			 Cumbria 1 1 — — 2 1 
			 Darlington — — — — — — 
			 Derby, city of — — — — — — 
			 Derbyshire 1 — — — 1 — 
			 Devon — — — — — — 
			 Doncaster — — — — — — 
			 Dorset — — — 2 — — 
			 Dudley — — — — — — 
			 Durham — — — — — — 
			 Ealing, LB of — — — — 2 1 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire — — — — — — 
			 East Sussex — — — — — — 
			 Enfield, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Essex — 1 2 4 2 2 
			 Gateshead — — — — — — 
			 Gloucestershire 1 1 3 1 1 4 
			 Greenwich, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Hackney, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Halton — — — — — — 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Hampshire — — — — — 1 
			 Haringey, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Harrow, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Hartlepool — — — — — — 
			 Havering, LB of — — — — — 1 
			 Herefordshire — — — — — — 
			 Hertfordshire — 1 1 1 1 — 
			 Hillingdon, LB of 1 1 1 — — — 
			 Hounslow, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Isles of Scilly — — — — — — 
			 Isle of Wight — — — — — — 
			 Islington, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Kensington and Chelsea, RB of — — — — — — 
			 Kent — — 1 1 2 3 
			 Kingston upon Hull, city of — — — — — — 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames, RB of — — — — — — 
			 Kirklees — — — — — — 
			 Knowsley — — — — — — 
			 Lambeth, LB of — — — 1 — — 
			 Lancashire — — — — — — 
			 Leeds — — — — — — 
			 Leicester City — — — — — — 
			 Leicestershire — — — — — — 
			 Lewisham, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Lincolnshire — — — 3 6 2 
			 Liverpool 1 — — 1 — — 
			 Luton — — 1 — — — 
			 Manchester — — — — — — 
			 Medway — — — — 1 — 
			 Merton, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Middlesbrough — — — — — — 
			 Milton Keynes 1 2 — — — — 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne — — — — — — 
			 Newham, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Norfolk — 1 — — 1 — 
			 North East Lincolnshire — — — — — — 
			 North Lincolnshire — — — — — — 
			 North Somerset — — — — — — 
			 North Tyneside — — — — — — 
			 North Yorkshire — — — — — — 
			 Northamptonshire — — — — — — 
			 Northumberland — — — — — — 
			 Nottingham, city of — — — — — 1 
			 Nottinghamshire — — — — — — 
			 Oldham — — — — — — 
			 Oxfordshire — — — — — — 
			 Peterborough, city of — — — — 1 1 
			 Plymouth, city of — — — — — — 
			 Poole — — — — 1 — 
			 Portsmouth — — — — — — 
			 Reading — — — — — — 
			 Redbridge — — — — — — 
			 Redcar and Cleveland — — — — — — 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Rochdale — — — — — — 
			 Rotherham — — — — — — 
			 Rutland — — — — — 1 
			 Salford — — 1 — — — 
			 Sandwell — — — — — — 
			 Sefton — — — — — — 
			 Sheffield — — — — 1 — 
			 Shropshire — — — — — — 
			 Slough — — — — — 1 
			 Solihull — — — — — — 
			 Somerset — — — — — — 
			 South Gloucestershire — — — — — — 
			 South Tyneside — — — — — — 
			 Southend-on-Sea — — — — 2 — 
			 Southampton — — — — — — 
			 Southwark, LB of — — — — — — 
			 St. Helens — — — — — — 
			 Staffordshire — — — — — — 
			 Stockport — — — — — — 
			 Stockton on Tees — — — — — — 
			 Stoke on Trent — — — — — — 
			 Suffolk — — — — — — 
			 Sunderland — — — — — — 
			 Surrey 1 — — — — 1 
			 Sutton, LB of 1 — — — — — 
			 Swindon — — — — — — 
			 Tameside — — — — — — 
			 Telford and Wrekin — — — — — — 
			 Thurrock — — — — 1 1 
			 Torbay — — — — — — 
			 Tower Hamlets, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Trafford — 1 — — — — 
			 Wakefield — — — — — — 
			 Walsall — — — — — 1 
			 Waltham Forest, LB of 1 — — — — — 
			 Wandsworth, LB of 1 — — 1 — — 
			 Warrington — — — — — — 
			 Warwickshire — — — — — — 
			 West Berkshire — — — — — — 
			 West Sussex — — — — — — 
			 Westminster, LB of — — — — — — 
			 Wigan — — — — — — 
			 Wiltshire 1 2 — 1 1 — 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead, RB of — — — — — — 
			 Wirral — — — — — — 
			 Wokingham — — — — — — 
			 Wolverhampton 1 — — — — — 
			 Worcestershire — — — — — — 
			 York, city of — — — — — — 
			  
			 Totals 18 13 12 22 31 26 
		
	
	
		Beacon schools—ex-GM schools by year and LEA
		
			 LEA 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Barnet — — — 2 
			 Bath and NE Somerset — — — 1 
			 Bedfordshire 1 — 1 — 
			 Birmingham — — 1 — 
			 Bolton — — 1 — 
			 Bradford — — 1 — 
			 Brent — — 1 2 
			 Bromley — — 1 — 
			 Buckinghamshire 1 — — — 
			 Calderdale 1 — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire — — 2 1 
			 Camden — — 2 — 
			 Croydon — — — 2 
			 Cumbria — — 1 2 
			 Derbyshire 1 2 — 3 
			 Devon — — — 1 
			 Doncaster — — — 1 
			 Dorset — — — 1 
			 Dudley — 1 — — 
			 Ealing — 1 1 — 
			 Essex 1 3 2 2 
			 Gloucestershire — 2 1 1 
			 Hampshire 1 — — — 
			 Hertfordshire — — — 2 
			 Hillingdon — — 1 — 
			 Kensington and Chelsea — — — 1 
			 Kent — — 3 4 
			 Lambeth — — 3 3 
			 Lancashire — 1 — — 
			 Lincolnshire — — 1 1 
			 Manchester — — — 1 
			 Medway Towns — — — 1 
			 Milton Keynes — — — 1 
			 Norfolk 1 — — — 
			 Northamptonshire — 1 — — 
			 Nottingham City — — — 1 
			 Nottinghamshire 1 — — — 
			 Oxfordshire — — — 1 
			 Peterborough — 3 — — 
			 Poole — — 1 — 
			 Reading — — — 1 
			 Rutland — — — 1 
			 Sheffield — — 1 1 
			 Shropshire — — 1 — 
			 Slough 1 — — 1 
			 Southampton — 1 — — 
			 Southend-on-Sea — — — 3 
			 St. Helens — — 2 1 
			 Surrey — 1 — 1 
			 Sutton — — — 2 
			 Tameside — — — 1 
			 Torbay 1 — — — 
			 Trafford 1 — — — 
			 Wandsworth — — 3 — 
			 West Berkshire — — 1 — 
			 Wiltshire — — 1 1

Teacher Numbers

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) male and (b) female teachers in the United Kingdom are employed in (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools.

Stephen Timms: The provisional numbers of teachers in regular full or part time service in the maintained schools sector in England at 31 March 2000 (the most recent date available) were as follows:
	
		
			  Nursery/primary Secondary 
		
		
			 Male 28,300 86,100 
			 Female 168,200 117,300 
			  
			 Total 196,500 203,300 
		
	
	Some 10 to 20 per cent. of part-timers are not recorded on the Teachers' Pension Scheme, from which the data are obtained.

Teacher Numbers

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many supply teachers were employed in each year since 1997, and what proportion had qualified teacher status, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: Information on the qualifications held by supply teachers is not collected centrally. The numbers of occasional teachers with contracts of less than one month, working for the whole day on the survey date, in the maintained schools sector, in January of each year, 1997 to 2001, by local education authority 1 , 2 were as follows:
	
		
			   1997 1998 1999 2000 2001(51) 
		
		
			 City of London (52)— (52)— (52)— (52)— (52)— 
			 Camden 80 90 100 110 70 
			 Greenwich 60 70 60 50 100 
			 Hackney 50 80 70 110 230 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 80 90 80 90 230 
			 Islington 90 60 140 130 120 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 90 70 60 50 60 
			 Lambeth 70 30 30 90 50 
			 Lewisham 110 100 110 90 100 
			 Southwark 110 130 130 140 120 
			 Tower Hamlets 70 110 80 90 220 
			 Wandsworth 30 70 50 50 50 
			 City of Westminster 50 70 70 50 80 
			 Barking and Dagenham 60 100 90 60 110 
			 Barnet 40 60 90 80 100 
			 Bexley 70 60 100 130 110 
			 Brent 50 60 70 110 100 
			 Bromley 60 40 60 100 110 
			 Croydon 110 100 100 110 190 
			 Ealing 30 60 50 70 100 
			 Enfield 60 90 70 100 140 
			 Haringey 120 120 130 100 100 
			 Harrow 40 40 40 120 120 
			 Havering 60 70 80 100 90 
			 Hillingdon 30 30 40 70 90 
			 Hounslow 90 60 90 80 50 
			 Kingston upon Thames 20 40 40 30 60 
			 Merton 60 70 60 80 60 
			 Newham 170 160 130 200 230 
			 Redbridge 30 40 40 30 60 
			 Richmond upon Thames 60 20 60 70 110 
			 Sutton 60 40 40 70 40 
			 Waltham Forest 30 50 50 50 40 
			 Birmingham 300 460 200 220 300 
			 Coventry 120 80 70 100 110 
			 Dudley 70 130 80 120 120 
			 Sandwell 60 70 60 60 90 
			 Solihull 50 80 40 50 80 
			 Walsall 110 60 60 80 80 
			 Wolverhampton 70 70 60 70 150 
			 Knowsley 60 60 80 100 40 
			 Liverpool 230 130 150 190 130 
			 St. Helens 60 60 80 70 60 
			 Sefton 100 90 110 140 150 
			 Wirral 120 90 120 130 170 
			 Bolton 110 100 110 120 140 
			 Bury 80 50 60 70 100 
			 Manchester 100 140 140 120 240 
			 Oldham 40 40 60 40 30 
			 Rochdale 110 90 100 110 130 
			 Salford 70 110 90 80 100 
			 Stockport 120 130 60 60 120 
			 Tameside 40 30 40 80 80 
			 Trafford 70 60 40 10 100 
			 Wigan 110 180 190 170 170 
			 Barnsley 120 100 110 140 140 
			 Doncaster 100 70 70 80 100 
			 Rotherham 100 100 110 140 140 
			 Sheffield 150 150 190 190 210 
			 Bradford 180 120 200 260 310 
			 Calderdale 70 50 70 110 80 
			 Kirklees 140 110 150 140 130 
			 Leeds 150 160 170 170 240 
			 Wakefield 100 90 120 140 140 
			 Gateshead 50 60 60 100 130 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 60 70 80 70 120 
			 North Tyneside 70 60 80 90 100 
			 South Tyneside 50 30 60 60 80 
			 Sunderland 60 110 80 80 80 
			 Isles of Scilly (52)— (52)— (52)— (52)— (52)— 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 60 30 60 70 60 
			 City of Bristol 220 160 130 230 150 
			 North Somerset 30 80 120 90 70 
			 South Gloucestershire 130 70 80 90 130 
			 Hartlepool 40 30 50 50 30 
			 Middlesbrough 60 40 50 40 60 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 30 50 50 60 40 
			 Stockton on Tees 90 70 90 100 130 
			 City of Kingston Upon Hull 100 90 80 130 180 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 80 90 130 110 140 
			 North East Lincolnshire 80 70 60 60 80 
			 North Lincolnshire 110 90 60 50 70 
			 North Yorkshire 170 130 170 190 270 
			 York 110 80 70 140 100 
			   
			 Former Bedfordshire 290 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Bedfordshire (53)— 210 80 130 130 
			 Luton (53)— 80 60 50 420 
			 Total former Bedfordshire area 290 290 140 190 550 
			   
			 Former Buckinghamshire 40 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Buckinghamshire (53)— 40 30 40 120 
			 Milton Keynes (53)— 40 60 80 80 
			 Total former Buckinghamshire area 40 80 90 110 200 
			   
			 Former Derbyshire 270 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Derbyshire (53)— 190 170 240 260 
			 Derby (53)— 50 40 70 (52)— 
			 Total former Derbyshire area 270 240 210 310 260 
			 Former Dorset 70 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Dorset (53)— (52)— 90 100 100 
			 Poole (53)— 30 30 30 30 
			 Bournemouth (53)— 40 60 40 80 
			 Total former Dorset area 70 80 180 170 200 
			   
			 Former Durham 230 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Durham (53)— 220 200 280 270 
			 Darlington (53)— 10 (52)— 40 50 
			 Total former Durham area 230 230 200 320 330 
			   
			 Former East Sussex 100 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 East Sussex (53)— 100 150 120 150 
			 Brighton and Hove (53)— 40 40 50 60 
			 Total former East Sussex area 100 140 190 170 210 
			   
			 Former Hampshire 420 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Hampshire (53)— 290 310 420 520 
			 Portsmouth (53)— 40 70 60 70 
			 Southampton (53)— 50 60 80 100 
			 Total former Hampshire area 420 380 440 570 690 
			   
			 Former Leicestershire 270 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Leicestershire (53)— 80 120 150 180 
			 Leicester (53)— 70 70 130 150 
			 Rutland (53)— 10 10 (52)— 30 
			 Total former Leicestershire area 270 160 190 280 360 
			   
			 Former Staffordshire 340 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Staffordshire (53)— 250 210 290 320 
			 Stoke on Trent (53)— 70 100 150 130 
			 Total former Staffordshire area 340 330 310 430 440 
			   
			 Former Wiltshire 120 (53)— (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Wiltshire (53)— 70 70 130 120 
			 Swindon (53)— 40 50 60 50 
			 Total former Wiltshire area 120 110 120 190 170 
			   
			 Former Berkshire 120 130 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Bracknell Forest (53)— (53)— 30 50 40 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead (53)— (53)— 20 20 20 
			 West Berkshire (53)— (53)— 40 30 30 
			 Reading (53)— (53)— 20 20 60 
			 Slough (53)— (53)— 50 50 60 
			 Wokingham (53)— (53)— 50 (52)— 40 
			 Total former Berkshire area 120 130 200 170 230 
			   
			 Former Cambridgeshire 150 120 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Cambridgeshire (53)— (53)— 120 60 90 
			 Peterborough (53)— (53)— (52)— 20 90 
			 Total former Cambridgeshire area 150 120 120 80 180 
			   
			 Former Cheshire 210 150 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Cheshire (53)— (53)— 150 180 170 
			 Halton (53)— (53)— 30 20 60 
			 Warrington (53)— (53)— 100 40 60 
			 Total former Cheshire area 210 150 270 240 290 
			   
			 Former Devon 210 250 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Devon (53)— (53)— 170 270 270 
			 Plymouth (53)— (53)— 70 110 170 
			 Torbay (53)— (53)— 40 40 60 
			 Total former Devon area 210 250 280 410 490 
			   
			 Former Essex 290 240 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Essex (53)— (53)— 180 330 480 
			 Southend on Sea (53)— (53)— 30 40 60 
			 Thurrock (53)— (53)— 20 40 60 
			 Total former Essex area 290 240 230 410 590 
			   
			 Former Hereford and Worcestershire 110 140 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Herefordshire (53)— (53)— 50 20 60 
			 Worcestershire (53)— (53)— 150 180 160 
			 Total former Hereford and Worcester area 110 140 200 200 210 
			 Former Kent 260 130 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Kent (53)— (53)— 330 430 470 
			 Medway (53)— (53)— 20 60 130 
			 Total former Kent area 260 130 350 490 600 
			   
			 Former Lancashire 560 510 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Lancashire (53)— (53)— 270 370 340 
			 Blackburn with Darwen (53)— (53)— 90 70 80 
			 Blackpool (53)— (53)— 50 60 100 
			 Total former Lancashire area 560 510 400 510 520 
			   
			 Former Nottinghamshire 310 450 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Nottinghamshire (53)— (53)— 400 360 280 
			 Nottingham (53)— (53)— 80 130 130 
			 Total former Nottinghamshire area 310 450 470 480 400 
			   
			 Former Shropshire 110 130 (53)— (53)— (53)— 
			 Shropshire (53)— (53)— 120 110 100 
			 Telford and Wrekin (53)— (53)— 70 80 90 
			 Total former Shropshire area 110 130 190 180 190 
			   
			 Cornwall 100 130 290 260 250 
			 Cumbria 130 130 140 170 180 
			 Gloucestershire 70 80 100 150 130 
			 Hertfordshire 120 90 130 170 120 
			 Isle of Wight 60 40 40 40 60 
			 Lincolnshire 140 140 160 230 230 
			 Norfolk 210 160 140 260 220 
			 Northamptonshire 190 240 130 160 190 
			 Northumberland 170 140 150 130 190 
			 Oxfordshire 140 110 170 120 130 
			 Somerset 150 140 160 220 330 
			 Suffolk 220 230 210 270 240 
			 Surrey 130 130 130 180 260 
			 Warwickshire 110 110 130 140 130 
			 West Sussex 170 100 130 150 210 
			   
			 England 13,610 13,150 14,120 16,660 19,590 
		
	
	(49) Local education authorities created by local government re-organisation in 1997 and 1998 are shown under their parent authority. Data have been aggregated to give totals for the former authority areas, in order to allow comparisons between years.
	(50) All figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not appear to equal the sum of their component parts, due to rounding.
	(51) 2001 figures include 820 teachers without qualified teacher status from outside the European Economic Area, collected for the first time in the January 2001 survey.
	(52) Less than 5.
	(53) Not applicable.

Teachers' Pay

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average pay is for teachers in (a) Staffordshire and (b) inner London.

Stephen Timms: The average salaries of regular full time teachers in the maintained schools sector at 31 March 2000 were as follows. This is the latest date for which provisional data are available.
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 Staffordshire LEA 25,000 
			 Inner London LEAs 28,200

Teacher Training Council

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) meetings and (b) communications there have been between her Department and the Teacher Training Council in each year since 1997.

Stephen Timms: Ministers and officials in this Department communicate regularly and have frequent formal and informal meetings with the Teacher Training Agency (TTA). The Department does not keep a central record of all meetings and communications. Key meetings include six TTA board meetings a year and quarterly meetings on audit and accreditation matters. Regular contacts and communications take place to ensure that TTA programmes are planned, managed and delivered effectively and in line with the Government's objectives.

Teacher Qualifications

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of teachers in England in secondary schools hold a (a) masters and (b) PhD in the subject area they are qualified to teach.

Stephen Timms: This information is not collected centrally.

Teachers (Age)

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of teachers in England employed in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools are (i) under and including the age of 35 and (ii) over the age of 35 years.

Stephen Timms: The proportions of teachers in regular full or part-time service in the maintained schools sector in England at 31 March 2000 (the latest date for which provisional data are available) who were under or over the age of 35 years were as follows:
	
		Percentage 
		
			  35 and under Over 35 
		
		
			 Nursery/Primary 33 67 
			 Secondary 29 71 
		
	
	Some 10 to 20 per cent. of part-timers are not recorded on the Teachers' Pension Scheme, from which the data are obtained.

Free School Meals

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils at (a) primary and (b) secondary level qualified for free school meals in each of the last seven years.

Stephen Timms: The available information is shown in the table.
	
		Pupils eligible for free school meals in maintained primary and secondary schools in England—day pupils(54)
		
			  Number known to be eligible for free school meals Number on roll Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals 
		
		
			 Primary
			 1995 956,497 4,312,072 22.2 
			 1996 974,281 4,389,311 22.2 
			 1997 938,542 4,428,616 21.2 
			 1998 886,069 4,460,128 19.9 
			 1999 848,173 4,460,171 19.0 
			 2000 816,994 4,435,343 18.4 
			 2001 779,307 4,406,187 17.7 
			 
			 Secondary
			 1995 539,438 2,988,954 18.0 
			 1996 550,902 3,006,938 18.3 
			 1997 552,903 3,036,994 18.2 
			 1998 537,073 3,069,029 17.5 
			 1999 527,339 3,118,277 16.9 
			 2000 523,630 3,177,998 16.5 
			 2001 509,676 3,226,973 15.8 
		
	
	(54) Excludes boarding pupils
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Teaching Assistants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to put in place a career structure for teaching assistants; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Developments in the roles of teaching assistants, including a career structure based on training, skills, experience and qualifications, are currently being considered by a working party which includes representatives of teachers and support staff, the local government employers and other government bodies. National Vocational Qualifications, based on the new National Occupational Standards for Teaching Assistants, are expected to be in place later this year and will form part of the proposed career structure.

Convent of Jesus and Mary High School

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the targets agreed by Convent of Jesus and Mary high school by Brent LEA at the time of its acquisition of specialist status identifying any not yet achieved.

Stephen Timms: The Convent of Jesus and Mary high school has been operating as a Language College since September 1996. The information requested is being collated. I will therefore write to the hon. Member shortly giving a full reply to the question raised.

Careers Guidance

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to ensure continuing universal availability of careers information, advice and guidance.

Ivan Lewis: Through the Connexions Service, all young people aged 13–19 will have access to a Connexions Personal Adviser (PA). One of the key roles of a PA is to provide independent information, advice and guidance on learning and career options. This can be delivered in class or small group settings, or through one-to-one interviews, depending on the young person's needs. The Connexions Service is now operating in 25 (out of a total of 47) Partnership areas and will be rolled-out nationally by 2003.

Television Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by her Department.

Ivan Lewis: In line with Government policy my Department, like others, has Crown immunity and is exempt from the need to purchase television licenses for televisions which are used for official use. All of the televisions which are in use on my headquarter buildings are for official use only.

Schooling Costs

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her estimate is of the average annual cost of schooling for an individual student taking three A-levels at (a) an English maintained secondary school and (b) an English maintained sixth form college.

Ivan Lewis: The figures for school and college funding have not been calculated on the same basis and cannot therefore be used to make comparisons. The FE unit funding figure includes total public funding allocated for further education, while the schools' figure does not. It is based only on delegated funds and excludes other funding the school receives centrally from LEAs which impacts on post-16 students.
	The latest estimate of the average delegated funding per sixth form student in schools per year for 2001–02 is £3,330. The total funding per full time equivalent student in FE sector colleges per year for 2001–02 is £3,660. Separate figures for sixth form colleges are not available.

Vacant Teaching Posts

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many vacant (a) deputy head teacher, (b) head teacher and (c) teacher posts existed in (i) primary schools, (ii) secondary schools and (iii) special schools in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority.

Stephen Timms: The deputy head teacher, head teacher and classroom teacher vacancies in maintained nursery/ primary, secondary and special schools by local education authority 1 in January of each year since 1997 has been placed in the Libraries.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development endeavours to answer all parliamentary questions in a timely manner. As the hon. Member will be aware there has been a sharp increase in the number of parliamentary questions in the current session and we will continue to aim to answer all questions as quickly and accurately as possible.

Entertainment Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list for 1997–98 and for each subsequent financial year, including the current year to date, the amount spent by (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies on (i) food and (ii) alcohol, indicating how much was spent on guests, and how much in respect of (A) Ministers and (B) staff, broken down to show how much was provided directly by her Department and how much reclaimed.

Hilary Benn: This information is not held centrally and could be made available only at a disproportionate cost.

Entertainment Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list for 1997–98 and each subsequent financial year the amount spent by (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non- departmental public bodies in respect of hotel and other similar privately-provided accommodation (i) in the UK and (ii) abroad for (A) Ministers, (B) staff and (C) other persons; if she will list the proportion of this cost incurred in respect of (x) food and (y) alcohol in each case; and if she will list the average cost per hotel room or similar unit of accommodation provided in each case.

Hilary Benn: This information is not held centrally and could be made available only at a disproportionate cost.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in her Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Hilary Benn: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget report on 17 April.

Mobile Phones

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list, for 1997–98 and for each subsequent financial year, the amount spent (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) abroad by (i) her Department, (ii) its agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies on (1) providing mobile telephone equipment, including handsets and other associated equipment, (2) telephone calls made using such equipment and (3) telephone calls made using privately owned mobile telephones but subsequently reclaimed by (x) Ministers and (y) staff.

Hilary Benn: This information is not held centrally and could be made available only at a disproportionate cost.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what new measures her Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Hilary Benn: As part of the refurbishment of our new London Headquarters, a number of additional security measures were introduced. Additional external CCTV cameras were installed, and a purpose-built security control room constructed. Improved external doors, grills and locks were also fitted, and security pillars were installed to monitor and control access into the building. A new system for asset control has also been introduced, whereby valuable assets can be tagged, and their movement monitored.
	Similar measures will be implemented during future refurbishment of our other two UK buildings. In the meantime our East Kilbride office is currently being fitted with secure storage for up to 30 bicycles.

Relocation

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans she has to relocate executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies under the remit of her Department to Scotland.

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development has no executive agencies. Two of the three non-departmental public bodies under my remit are based in the South East. The third, the Overseas Service Pensions Scheme Advisory Board, is administered from our offices in Scotland although their meetings take place in the South East. There are no plans to change these arrangements.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by her Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose.

Hilary Benn: The Department's 1 Palace Street, London office currently subscribes to the Annunciator Link to the Houses of Parliament, which transmits both digital terrestrial and satellite channels. The cost of this is £937 plus VAT per month. The link is used by my Private and Press Offices to keep in touch with events in both Houses of Parliament and to pick up broadcasts from the various news channels.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by her Department.

Hilary Benn: We currently hold three television licenses at a total cost of £327. In addition, we also pay a monthly rental fee of £937 plus VAT for the Annunciator Link to the Houses of Parliament. This is used for the transmission of terrestrial and satellite channels to points to our 1 Palace Street, London office.

Pensions

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the average value in pounds sterling of pensions received by British nationals under the CAPF in the last year for which figures are available.

Hilary Benn: I am advised by the Crown Agents, who are responsible for the management of the Central African Pension Fund (CAPF), that the average CAPF pension is £451.17 a year. It is not possible to provide a figure for British nationals alone.

Electronic Invoices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the initiation by her Department of the electronic receipt of invoices.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Internet Access

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if access to the internet for all overseas staff of the Department and its agencies will be provided in 2002.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Audit Needs Assessment

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the result was of the consideration by the Department's Management Board of an audit needs assessment in March 2001.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Budgeting Forecasting

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the result of the testing of the pilot systems for improved budgeting forecasting and suspense management is.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Implementation Group (Tokyo)

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who will represent the UK Government at the first meeting of the Implementation Group (Tokyo) due to meet in Kabul on 19 April; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Senior officials from DFID will represent the UK at the Implementation Group meeting in Kabul, which is scheduled to take place from 10 to 11 April.
	This will be the first meeting of the Implementation Group since the Ministerial Conference that was held in Tokyo in January 2002. Around 150 participants are expected to attend, approximately a third of whom will be representing Afghan line ministries. Issues for discussion are likely to include the National Development Framework; an analysis of donor pledges and commitments; a progress report on the Immediate and Transitional Assistance Programme (ITAP) for Afghanistan in 2002; and modalities of the World Bank Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF).

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will support the call from Afghanistan's Minister for Women's Affairs for 25 per cent. female representation on the Loya Jirga being organised under the auspices of the UN.

Hilary Benn: We welcome the announcement by the Special Commission for the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga on 31 March on the procedures and criteria for the selection of delegates for the Emergency Loya Jirga. This includes a quota of 165 seats for women: approximately 11 per cent. of the total Emergency Loya Jirga delegation. This is the highest proportion of women included in any Loya Jirga in Afghan history, and as such is an important first step in ensuring that the views of women will be represented. We will continue to urge the Special Commission for the Emergency Loya Jirga to actively encourage more Afghan women to participate in the political process.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 5 February 2002, Official Report, column 916W, on her Department's office in Kabul, what jobs are filled by Afghan (a) women and (b) men at the office.

Hilary Benn: 25 Afghan staff are employed in the DFID office in Kabul: 24 of whom are male, and one female. National staff are predominantly employed as programme officers, programme assistants, security guards, drivers and housekeepers. The female Afghan member of staff is employed as a housekeeper.
	All DFID positions for national staff in Afghanistan are advertised publicly with a notice encouraging women to apply.

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she has received a report from UNIFEM on the meeting held in Kabul with the Association of Afghan Women on 7 and 8 March; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: The UNIFEM report of the meeting held in Kabul with the Association of Afghan Women in March has not yet been published. We have requested a copy of the final report when it is issued.

Gender Strategy

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department's gender strategy is.

Hilary Benn: Inequalities between women and men are deeply embedded, and they need to be tackled in economic, political, social and cultural life. We are concentrating on supporting changes in policy, laws and attitudes, while maintaining links with work at the grass roots. Our strategy is set out in "Poverty Elimination and the Empowerment of Women", published in September 2000.
	In respect of its role as an employer, DFID's gender policy is based on a long-standing policy of equal opportunities in respect of all aspects of our recruitment and employment practices. We have targets for the representation of women. A diversity audit, which addresses gender and other issues, is currently underway looking at DFID's policies and practices, and we are planning an equal pay audit.

Education

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the target of 91 per cent. for the percentage of children in education in the top 30 UK development partner countries by 2002 will be met.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Special Advisers

Tim Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions since 1 May 1997 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity; and if she will list the total cost, including (i) travel, (ii) accommodation and (iii) subsistence allowance, for each occasion.

Clare Short: Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2001, Special Advisers in my Department travelled abroad on two occasions, at an average cost of £3,100 per trip. This figure includes the average accommodation cost and subsistence allowance for all DfID staff travelling overseas, as it is not possible to provide specific information for these categories. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2000 is already in the public domain. All travel by Special Advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code, and the Civil Service Management Code.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target for reducing maternal mortality will be met by 2002.

Hilary Benn: The final out turn of the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target covering maternal health and progress towards all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 departmental report to be published in April.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target that 60 per cent. of departmental services should be reviewed by 2003 will be met.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 department report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target that 75 per cent. of relevant bilateral projects shall be likely to meet their objectives by 2002 will be met.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 departmental report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if the PSA target for the implementation of an overseas pilot exercise in the use of procurement cards was met by the end of 2001.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if the PSA target to reply to 100 per cent. of Ministerial correspondence within 21 days of receipt (a) was met in 2001 and (b) will be met in 2002.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target for the development of the performance reporting information system for management will be met in 2002.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of when the PSA target of an annual 1.5 per cent. real gross domestic product per capita growth in the top 30 UK development partners will be met.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development's Service Delivery Agreement sets out in more detail how we are working to achieve specific Public Service Agreement outcomes. progress towards Public Service Agreement targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002—as well as a full account of the UK's work to support poverty elimination—will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published in April.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target for reduction in sickness absence rates by 2003 will be met.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Departmental Report to be published later this month.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to reduce central and support costs as a percentage of aid policy and administration by 1 per cent. or approximately to £0.5 million per year will be met by 2002.

Hilary Benn: A report on progress against this particular Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, and against all other PSA targets set by my Department between April 1999 and March 2002, will appear in DFID's 2002 Department Report to be published later this month.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the value is of total investments of the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Hilary Benn: At 31 December 2000, CDC's portfolio at valuation was £1,063.9 million. The valuation at the end of December 2001 will be published in CDC's annual report for 2001.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans she has to expand the proportion of CDC Capital Partners' portfolio held in equity investments.

Hilary Benn: None. Management of CDC's portfolio is the responsibility of CDC's Board of Directors.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what percentage of CDC Capital Partners and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's portfolio was in countries with a per capita GNP of less than £1,600 in real terms in each of the last six years;
	(2)  in how many (i) countries and (ii) businesses CDC Capital Partners and the Commonwealth Development Corporation had investments in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(3)  what percentage of CDC Capital Partners' and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's investment was in sub-Saharan Africa by value in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(4)  what the average rate of return on capital employed was by CDC Capital Partners and the Commonwealth Development Corporation on a three year basis for (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(5)  what percentage of the portfolio of CDC Capital Partners and the Commonwealth Development Corporation was held in equity investments by (i) value and (ii) the number of investments in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(6)  what the return was on CDC Capital Partners' and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's equity portfolio as a percentage in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(7)  what percentage of CDC Capital Partners' and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's Equity Investments were in (i) least developed countries and (ii) sub-Saharan Africa in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(8)  what percentage of CDC Capital Partners' and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's equity investments were in (i) the agribusiness sector and (ii) the infrastructure sector in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001;
	(9)  what percentage of CDC Capital Partners' and the Commonwealth Development Corporation's investment in least developed countries were in (i) the agribusiness sector and (ii) the infrastructure sector in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999, (e) 2000 and (f) 2001.

Hilary Benn: The Commonwealth Development Corporation was registered as CDC Group plc in 1999 and now trades as CDC Capital Partners. The data below refer to the portfolio or new equity investments of the group as a whole, and takes no account of new lending if any.
	Statistics held by CDC are based on the category of poorer countries defined in the Investment Policy. These are countries with a GNP per capita below the weighted mean for lower middle income countries, based on World Bank data published in 1998. This category, which corresponds to a GNP per capita of $1,730 in 1996, has been used in the replies.
	Some data for years preceding the establishment of CDC's Investment Policy are not readily available. CDC will write shortly to supplement the answers given for earlier years. Data for the year ending December 2001 will be published later this month in CDC's Annual Report.
	
		
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Percentage of portfolio in poorer countries (per cent.) n/a n/a 85 85 84 n/a 
			 Number of countries in which investments were made during the year 35 34 33 29 34 29 
			 Number of businesses in which investments were made during the year n/a n/a 96 90 86 81 
			 New investments in sub-Saharan Africa as percentage of investments during the year (per cent.) 31 33 36 32 25 n/a 
			 Average rate of return on three-year basis (per cent.) 15 13 5 5 -2 n/a 
			 Percentage of portfolio held in equity investments: by value (per cent.) 26 29 32 40 50 n/a 
			 Rate of return on equity portfolio (per cent.) 12 11 -8 -9 -11 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in (i) poorer developing countries n/a n/a n/a 71 78 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in (ii) sub-Saharan Africa n/a n/a n/a 18 15 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in (i) the agribusiness sector 34 21 3 28 5 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in (ii) the infrastructure sector 6 0 0 15 19 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in poorer countries in (i) the agribusiness sector n/a n/a n/a 13 19 n/a 
			 Percentage of new investments in poorer countries in (ii) the infrastructure sector n/a n/a n/a 6 5 n/a

WORK AND PENSIONS

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

Ian McCartney: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins) on 4 March 2002, Official Report, column 28W. Between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002, special advisers in the Department did not travel abroad on any occasion.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Maria Eagle: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.
	Since the House returned in October we have received double the number of the previous session and by the end of this session we anticipate having dealt with significantly more questions than any of the last five years. This does of course have an impact on our ability to deal with questions speedily. We are confident that in deciding to table questions hon. Members take into account the impact of their requests on the ability of colleagues to secure answers to their inquiries. Many hon. Members secure information from other sources such as publications by the Department which are available in the Library.

Targeting Fraud Website

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he is conducting to evaluate the impact of the Targeting Fraud website.

Malcolm Wicks: The Department collates website statistics for all its sites including those for the Targeting Fraud site. The website has received more than 1.65 million hits and has generated more than 11,000 fraud referrals. The website is just one part of our campaign to raise awareness of benefit fraud and reinforce the message that committing fraud is wrong.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Maria Eagle: The table gives the number of staff recorded as having been seconded in to the Department (including Employment Service and the former Department of Social Security) from non-governmental organisations in the financial years (a) 1998–99, (b) 1999–2000 and (c) 2000–01.
	Secondments are part of the interchange initiative promoting the exchange of people and good practice between the civil service and other organisations. Interchange is a key component of the civil service reform agenda. The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to increasing interchange, in particular bringing more people in to the Department on secondment.
	
		Number of staff recorded as having been seconded in to the Department from non-governmental organisations
		
			 Year Number of inward secondments 
		
		
			 1998–99 42 
			 1999–2000 31 
			 2000–01 69 
			  
			 Total 142

Flexible Working

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are (a) job sharing, (b) term working and (c) engaged in another form of flexible working.

Nick Brown: We have a range of alternative working practices available to all staff which aim to strike a balance between working life and personal commitments. The majority of staff work on a flexible working pattern, which allows a degree of freedom that they can tailor around their work and home life priorities.
	The Department for Work and Pensions is a new Department therefore figures supplied below have been supplied from Employment Services and DSS legacy systems.
	
		(a) Job sharing
		
			  ES DSS DWP 
		
		
			 Number of staff employed 40,123 104,597 144,720 
			 Number of job sharers 4 6 10 
			 Proportion of staff employed as job sharers 0.01 0.01 0.01 
		
	
	
		(b) Part-year working
		
			  ES DSS DWP 
		
		
			 Number of staff employed 40,123 104,597 144,720 
			 Number of part-year workers 539 3,328 3,867 
			 Proportion of staff employed as part-year workers 1.34 3.18 2.67 
		
	
	
		(c) Other flexible working patterns
		
			  ES DSS DWP 
		
		
			 Number of staff employed 40,123 104,597 23.62 
			 Number of staff employed on other flexible working patterns 9,477 29,770 28.46 
			 Proportion of staff employed on other flexible working patterns 23.62 39,247 27.12

Accountancy Contracts

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the contracts agreed by his Department with the five largest accountancy firms since May 1997; and what was the total value of contracts with each.

Nick Brown: The question covers a period prior to the establishment of the Department for Work and Pensions in June 2001. The information requested on contracts let by the ex-Employment Service and ex-Department of Social Security is not held centrally in the new Department and the question could be answered only at disproportionate cost.
	Information on contracts let by the Department for Work and Pensions will be collated for the current financial year but is not currently available.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the saving from the PFI/PPP deal for IS and IT services to underpin child support reforms.

Malcolm Wicks: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Doug Smith to John Bercow Esq., dated 9 April 2002
	The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me. I apologise for the delay in writing to you.
	You asked for a statement on the saving from the PFI/PPP deal for IS and IT services to underpin child support reforms.
	Child Support Reform delivers new legislation, IS/IT services, procedures and working practices which together provide financial savings accruing over the life of the IS/IT contract. By 2005/2006 the changes will result in a reduction of 17% in the unit cost (which includes PFI costs) of handling child support applications.

Minimum Income Guarantee

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the rise in the minimum income guarantee has been since 1997 after taking account of inflation.

Ian McCartney: The minimum income guarantee was introduced in 1997. Since 1999, annual rises in the minimum income guarantee have been linked to earnings. The rises, after taking into account inflation increases and the differences in the premiums paid, are shown in the table:
	
		
			   Single (per cent. increase) Couple (per cent. increase) 
		
		
			 April 1997 n/a n/a 
			 April 1998 0.0 0.0 
			 April 1999 4.4 4.5 
			 April 2000 3.0 3.0 
			 April 2001 15.9 13.7 
			 April 2002 4.8 4.9

Minimum Income Guarantee

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of the minimum income guarantee are attributed with income from private pension funds not yet annuitised; and how many claimants of MIG who were rejected were attributed with such income.

Ian McCartney: Information regarding the numbers of minimum income guarantee claimants with income attributed to private pension funds not yet annuitised, and unsuccessful claims to minimum income guarantee attributed with such income, is not available.

Minimum Income Guarantee

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Portsmouth receive the minimum income guarantee; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: As at November 2001, there were 5,000 claimants in receipt of the minimum income guarantee in the Portsmouth local authority area. However, when we include partners, 5,500 pensioners are benefiting from the minimum income guarantee.
	Over two million pensioners nationwide benefit from the minimum income guarantee. Those pensioners in receipt of minimum income guarantee are at least £15 per week better off in real terms than in 1997. From April 2002, no single pensioner will be expected to live on less than £98.15 per week and no pensioner couple on less than £149.50.
	Source: Income Support Statistics Quarterly Inquiry 5 per cent. sample, November 2001.

Job Creation

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of jobs that have been created (a) under the Government's New Deal and (b) through local authority partnerships in the London boroughs of (i) Lambeth, (ii) Southwark and (iii) Lewisham; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Brown: holding answer 21 March 2002
	The New Deals are not job creation programmes. They work closely with employers to ensure that New Deal participants are provided with the tailored help and support they need to be able to fill existing vacancies and meet the skills shortages faced by employers. The New Deals have already helped over 600,000 people move into work.
	We have a good working relationship with Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham councils, all of whom have signed up as New Deal employers. In April we will also be introducing a StepUP pilot in the Lambeth area, which will provide a stepping stone for long-term unemployed people moving from benefits into work.

Widowed Parent's Allowance

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many widowers whose spouse died prior to 9 April 2001, were eligible for the widowed parent's allowance at the time of its introduction; and how many of them have received the benefit;
	(2)  how many fathers with dependent children have been widowed since 9 April 2001; and how many of them have received the widowed parent's allowance.

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available but such information as we do have is shown in the table.
	Men with dependent children widowed prior to the commencement of bereavement benefits on 9 April 2001 became eligible for widowed parents allowance from that date, subject to the normal conditions of entitlement. Such men whose awards were in payment at the date of the scan will be included in these figures.
	
		Widows parent's allowance recipients, 30 September 2001
		
			   Thousands 
		
		
			 All recipients 8.6 
			 Male recipients 6.3 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
	2. All data from 5 per cent. samples are subject to sampling error.
	Source:
	5 per cent. sample from the Pension Strategy Computer System as at 30 September 2001.

Benefit Fraud

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many extra (a) internal and (b) claimant fraud investigators have been taken on by his Department in the last year.

Malcolm Wicks: Although the Department has replaced internal investigators as they have left, no extra internal investigators have been recruited. Information on the number of staff employed by the Department in claimant fraud investigation is in the table.
	
		
			 Quarter ending Total number of fraud staff 
		
		
			 March 2001 4,531 
			 June 2001 5,047 
			 September 2001 5,210 
			 December 2001 5,294 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures include investigators and administrative support staff.
	Source:
	Professional Standards Unit.

Benefit Fraud

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were successfully prosecuted for (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit fraud in each local authority in 2000–01.

Malcolm Wicks: We are working in partnership with local authorities to tackle fraud and error. From April 2001 we introduced a comprehensive new incentive scheme that encourages authorities to focus more effectively on the full range of anti-fraud measures of which prosecution is only one. 63 local authorities are already on the new scheme and the rest will join in April 2002.
	Local authorities' investigations in 2000–01 rooted out 100,000 cases of fraud and claimed a weekly saving. It is not possible to give separate figures for prosecutions for housing benefit and council tax benefit fraud. Information on the total numbers of successful prosecutions for benefit fraud reported by each local authority in 2000–01 has been placed in the Library.

Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will reply to the letter of 20 February from the hon. Member for Walsall, North regarding correspondence sent by a Member of the Irish Parliament.

Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
	The Lord Chancellor's Department, which has responsibility for reciprocal maintenance arrangements between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the subject of the correspondence. The hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a response to his letter by 19 April 2002.

Benefits

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of the population received means tested benefits (a) in 1997 and (b) according to the most recent figures available.

Malcolm Wicks: Overall, the proportion of people aged 16 and over receiving income-related benefits has fallen from 17.5 per cent. to 16 per cent. between May 1997 and May 2000.
	Notes:
	1. Income-related benefits/tax credits are defined as income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit, council tax benefit (plus disability working allowance and family credit for May 1997 only and working families tax credit and disabled persons tax credit for May 2000).
	2. The data refer to claims for income tested benefits, which may be a single person, a couple or a family. More than one person can live in one property, for example two or more adults in a flat or house share arrangement.
	3. Overlaps between benefits/tax credits have been removed.

Benefits

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list each way in which benefit recipients can have their benefit income reduced because of a sanction; and how many people have been subject to each of these sanctions during the last year for which figures are available.

Malcolm Wicks: Information on how people's benefit income may be reduced because of a sanction is contained in the Decision Makers Guide, a copy of which is available in the Library.
	The available information on the number of people who have been subject to a sanction is in the table.
	
		
			 Type of sanction Numbers of people subject to sanctions 
		
		
			 Community sentence 37 
			 Income support—lone parents who fail to participate in a meeting with a personal adviser 765 
			 Jobseeker's allowance 24,100 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Community Sentence data are based on clerical returns received at the DWP Information Centre between 15 October 2001 and 26 March 2002. Figures are unrounded.
	2. Percentage figure on community sentence is not available, as the number of offenders on community orders in receipt of income support, jobseeker's allowance or training allowance is unknown.
	3. Income support data for lone parents are based on a 100 per cent. count taken from the Labour Market Computer System between 9 April 2001 and 22 February 2002.
	4. Jobseeker's allowance data are taken from a 5 per cent. scan of the benefit computer system. The figures in the table represent a snapshot as at 8 November 2001 of the number of jobseekers where a sanction has been applied.

Benefits

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total weekly benefit savings are for each local authority in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) each quarter of 2001–02.

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested has been placed in the Library. From April all local authorities will be operating within our new anti-fraud incentive scheme that provides a broader range of financial incentives to prevent, detect, punish and prosecute fraud than did the old weekly benefit savings scheme.

Benefits

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) total value of emergency benefit payments issued in each month since 1997.

Nick Brown: holding answer 11 March 2002
	This is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 13 March 2002
	The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) total value of emergency benefit payments issued in each month since 1997.
	Information held centrally records the total number of clerical payments that have been issued. This is not possible broken down into categories and the amount of the payments is not recorded.
	It is not therefore possible to estimate how many payments were for emergency payments or the amount that has been paid. Emergency payments vary depending on individual customer's circumstances.
	I'm sorry that I cannot be more helpful.

Disability Living Allowance

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what impact Statutory Instrument 2002, No. 648 will have on the eligibility to claim disability living allowance by those with (a) visual and hearing impairments, (b) heart disease, (c) asthma, (d) epilepsy, (e) ME/CFS and (f) bowel disease.

Maria Eagle: Entitlement to disability living allowance is based on the claimant's need for personal care and/or walking difficulties which result from their severe disability. The claimant's medical condition is not, necessarily, the key factor.
	This statutory instrument, the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations 2002, makes clear that "fear or anxiety" experienced when walking out of doors can be taken into account for entitlement to the lower rate mobility component of disability living allowance only where they are a symptom of a mental disability. It does not alter the basic qualifying criteria for the lower rate mobility component, which require a person to be so severely disabled physically or mentally that they are unable to walk out of doors on unfamiliar routes without guidance or supervision from another person most of the time. The eligibility of claimants with any of the disabilities listed in the question will be unaffected by the statutory instrument except where their claims are based on 'fear or anxiety' experienced in these circumstances.

Disability Living Allowance

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost would be of (a) extending the period from four to 13 weeks of an adult's stay in hospital before disability living allowance or attendance allowance is removed and (b) extending the period form 12 to 26 weeks before DLA is withdrawn for a child.

Maria Eagle: holding answer 18 March 2002
	The proposed change would cost in the order of £50 million per annum.
	Notes:
	Caseloads have been rounded to the nearest 5,000 and costs to the nearest 5 million.
	Based on data taken from the May 2001 5 per cent. scan of the AA/DLA computer systems, and 1999 Hospital Episode Statistics.
	The costs have been calculated based on the stock of hospital suspensions at a point in time. The proportion of suspensions who would be affected by the extension to 13 weeks (26 weeks for children) was derived from Hospital Episode Statistics which show the number of hospital episodes by completed duration.
	Estimates of the stock of hospital suspensions at a point are available from the 5 per cent. scan of the AA/DLA computer systems. Estimates of the flow of DLA/AA claimants on to a hospital suspension are not available.

Carers (Savings)

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he proposes to enable people with caring responsibilities to save for their retirement.

Maria Eagle: SERPS has served many people well but, because it is purely earnings-related, people on the lowest earnings gain least, and carers and disabled people who cannot work, or earn very little, get nothing at all.
	When state second pension is launched on 6 April, 18 million people will start to build up bigger pension entitlements. Some 4.5 million low-paid employees (those earning up to £10,800 in 2002–03) will get at least twice as much additional pension as a person earning £10,800 would have got from SERPS. In addition 2 million qualifying carers and a similar number of long-term disabled people with broken work records will benefit from state second pension. They will be treated, for state second pension purposes, as if they had annual earnings at the low earnings threshold, £10,800 for 2002–03.
	State second pension will also deliver better pensions for 9.5 million moderately paid employees—those earning between £10,800 and £24,600 (in 2002–03 terms).
	Employees earning more than £24,600 will get equivalent benefits to those provided by SERPS.
	Enhanced national insurance rebates and state second pension "top-ups" will ensure that low and moderately paid employees who are contracted-out into private pensions will also benefit from the reforms.
	In addition, we plan that the savings credit element of the pension credit will reward people with second pensions, including state second pension.

Housing Benefit

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which local authorities have not sent information requested or expected by the Department relating to housing benefit administration in 2001; on which occasions figures have been estimated for non-responding local authorities; and what action the Department takes against non-responding local authorities.

Malcolm Wicks: At present information is provided on a voluntary basis by local authorities. We have reminded all authorities of the importance of providing management information.
	Estimates have been made by the Department in respect of non-responding local authorities or missing information since 1994–95 for annual returns and since 1996–97 for quarterly returns.
	Information on the number of local authorities who have failed to submit management information returns to the Department in 2000–01 has been placed in the Library.

Housing Benefit

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to reform subsidies to local authorities for housing benefit administration so they become performance related.

Malcolm Wicks: We have already increased housing benefit administration subsidy for the year 2001–02 to £166 million, in 2002–03 it will increase to £170 million and to £174 million in 2003–04. This three-year settlement provides local authorities with stability, enabling them to plan more effectively for the future administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit.
	As part of our drive to improve local authority performance in delivering housing benefit, we are developing a set of performance standards for effective and secure administration.
	Local authorities will be able to self assess their performance against challenging standards that go beyond the core measures of speed, accuracy and basic security and address wider issues—customer service, housing need and anti-poverty objectives.
	In April 2001 we launched a new anti-fraud incentive scheme which means that local authorities who uncover more fraud and prosecute fraudsters can expect to receive greater financial reward than before. 63 authorities are currently on the scheme, the rest will join in April 2002. The scheme offers additional reward to those authorities who operate the Verification Framework.
	For the future, we are looking at how we can use performance assessments to target help and support to authorities that need it most.

Income Support (Dumfries and Galloway)

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Dumfries and Galloway region are in receipt of income support.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
	
		Income Support recipients in the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area—November 2001
		
			  Income support recipients Minimum income guarantee recipients 
		
		
			 4,900 5,200 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred, and are based on a 5 per cent. sample which is subject to a degree of sampling variation.
	2. Minimum income guarantee for pensioners is defined as income support recipients where the recipient and/or partner are aged 60 or over.
	Source:
	Income Support Quarterly Statistical Inquiry, November 2001

Child Support

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when current customers of the Child Support Agency will enter the new scheme starting in April; and what plans he has for the implementation of the new plan for existing customers.

Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the Statement made to this House by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, on 20 March 2002, Official Report, columns 315–16. Existing cases will be transferred when the new system has been introduced and we are sure it is working well.

Child Support

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what gender impact assessment was carried out prior to changes being made to arrangements for child maintenance payments; and if he will place a copy of that assessment in the Library.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 20 March 2002
	Under the legislation, each non-resident parent and each parent with care is treated in the same manner, irrespective of the sex of the individual. The purpose of the reforms to the child support system is to ensure an increase in the amount of support for children, irrespective of their gender.

Child Support

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he estimates the PSA target for the introduction of the reformed child support scheme for new cases will be met on time.

Nick Brown: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 20 March 2002, Official Report, columns 315–16.

Child Support

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disqualification orders have been made since the provision came into effect; and how many prosecutions have been mounted for information offences since their introduction.

Malcolm Wicks: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Mr. Doug Smith to Mr. Mitchell, dated 9 April 2002
	The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.
	You ask how many disqualification orders have been made since the provision came into effect; and how many prosecutions have been mounted for information offences since their introduction.
	Our aim is to encourage parents to support their children. In the majority of cases our demonstrated intention to take a case to court has been sufficient to encourage the non-resident parent to make arrangements to pay maintenance.
	In two cases the court has granted an order to suspend a driving licence but suspended the application of the order to permit the non-resident parent to comply with his liability. In both cases the non-resident parent is now making regular payments.
	In a third case a driving licence was ordered to be withdrawn for six months, as the non-resident parent had been given the opportunity to pay his maintenance liability but failed to do so.
	There have been no prosecutions and therefore no convictions made under the criminal offence of non-co-operation with the Child Support Agency. The deterrent effect of a criminal sanction for failing to provide information when requested is an important element of the new system. We strongly encourage parents to co-operate voluntarily with requests for information by contacting customers by telephone, letter and interview, and where necessary making them aware of this penalty before referring the case for consideration of prosecution.
	I hope this is helpful.

Child Support

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his oral statement of 20 March, if lone parents receiving income support who start to receive child maintenance after April 2002 will qualify for a maintenance disregard; and what plans he has to compensate those who will not qualify because of the delay in implementing the new CSA computer system.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The child maintenance premium is an integral feature of the new child support scheme. Cases assessed under the current rules do not have entitlement to the premium. They accrue, depending on the amount of maintenance paid, a potential entitlement to child maintenance bonus. No question of compensation arises.

Child Support

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to transfer existing CSA clients to the new system; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the Statement made to this House by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, on 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 315–16.

Child Support

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what arrangements will apply to new clients of the child support system after April.

Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the Statement made to this House by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, on 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 315–16.

Child Support

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the enhanced enforcement powers for child support.

Malcolm Wicks: The new powers, in sections 13 (information—offences) and 16 (commitment to prison and disqualification from driving), are intended to help the Child Support Agency to secure compliance. Their success is in the extent to which non-resident parents co-operate with the Agency.
	In the majority of the cases that the Agency has taken to court, the non-resident parent has been encouraged to make arrangements to pay maintenance. There have been no prosecutions and therefore no convictions made under the criminal offence of non-cooperation with the Child Support Agency. The deterrent effect of a criminal sanction for failing to provide information when requested is an important element of the new system.

Pension Credit

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of eligible claimants there will be for the savings credit component of the pension credit in (a) St. Helens, South, (b) St. Helens MBC area, (c) Merseyside, (d) the north-west and (e) England.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 21 March 2002
	Around half of all pensioner households in Great Britain will be eligible for pension credit in 2003–04. Of these, about 80 per cent. will be eligible for the savings credit. Remaining information is not available.

Pension Credit

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to which benefits administered by his Department he proposes that the payment of pension credit should be a passport.

Nick Brown: We propose that recipients of pension credit should be entitled to the same DWP benefits administered by the Department as recipients of income support.

Pensions

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the numbers of contributors to (a) defined benefit occupational pension schemes, (b) defined contribution occupational pension schemes in (i) 1992, (ii) 1997 and (iii) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Ian McCartney: The information requested is not available. The available information is given in the table.
	
		Contributors to occupational pension schemes in the UK -- Thousands
		
			   1991 1995 
		
		
			 Defined benefit 9,800 9,200 
			 Defined contribution 900 1,100 
			  
			 Total 10,700 10,300 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The GAD survey does not separate public sector schemes into defined benefit and defined contribution. It has been assumed that all public sector scheme members are in defined benefit schemes but the figures given for defined benefit will include a small number of public sector workers who are members of defined contribution schemes.
	2. 1995 is the latest year for which information is available. The next GAD survey of occupational pension schemes covering the position in 2000 is due for publication later this year.
	Source:
	'Occupational Pension Schemes' Surveys by the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) 1991, 1995.

Pensions

Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if his Department will consult on the introduction of compulsory pensions.

Ian McCartney: Any employee earning over the primary threshold is making compulsory contributions to their pensions through national insurance.

Pensions

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the basis is of the attribution of income to a private pension pot before annuitisation for the assessment of income support on the minimum income guarantee; and how many claimants of each benefit were subject to such an attribution.

Nick Brown: The income from an annuity purchased from a pension fund is taken fully into account for MIG purposes.
	If a person over 60 has not taken an annuity he is treated as having a notional income of the amount he could have obtained if he had used his pension fund to buy an annuity. A similar approach is intended for pension credit.
	Information regarding the number of claimants subject to such an attribution is not available.

Pensions

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will set out the circumstances under which SERPS entitlement can be offset against entitlement to a guaranteed minimum pension.

Maria Eagle: There are no circumstances under which SERPS entitlement can be offset against an individual's guaranteed minimum pension but the guaranteed minimum pension is offset against an individual's SERPS entitlement.

Pensions

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on how his policies for pensions will affect women.

Maria Eagle: We are committed to ensuring that our pension reforms significantly improve women's pension rights.
	In April 2001 we introduced simple, low charge, flexible stakeholder pensions which are not restricted to those who are working. Women who wish to save towards a decent income in retirement can now do so and benefit from tax relief on the contributions paid into a stakeholder pension.
	Stakeholder pensions can be moved between providers without charge. This is beneficial to those women in the modern labour market who move regularly between employers and occupations and who at different times, may be self employed, employed on a limited term contract or on a permanent contract.
	The flexibility of stakeholder pensions means that they are a good option for women who take a break from work, for example to raise a family, as contributions can be started and stopped without penalty. As stakeholder pensions are open to non-earners those women who are not employed but can afford to save something towards their retirement can now do so. Stakeholder pension rules also allow family or friends to contribute towards someone else's pension, which may help the large number of women who are carers.
	From April 2002, state second pension will boost the pensions of low and moderately paid employees and, for the first time, will provide additional pension for carers and some long-term disabled people. It will be of particular benefit to women, many of whom work part-time or as carers.
	Some 2 million carers, at least 1.5 million of whom are women, will begin to build up entitlement to additional pension for the first time under state second pension. Just over 4.5 million low earners, 70 per cent. of whom are women, and 9.5 million moderate earners will gain under state second pension.
	The minimum income guarantee for low-income pensioners, most of whom are women, allows people to have £12,000 savings and still qualify for extra support. From April 2002, minimum income guarantee will rise to £98.15 for single pensioners and £149.80 for couples. Currently, over 1.1 million women are in receipt of the minimum income guarantee.
	From 2003, the new pension credit will benefit lower income pensioners. Two thirds of people receiving pension credit will be women, half of whom will be aged 80 or over. By April 2003, as a result of the pension credit no single pensioner will have to live on less than £100 a week (£154 for couples).
	Winter fuel payments, at £200 for each eligible household, aim to ensure that no older person is fearful of turning up the heating in cold weather. Last winter (2000–01), over 11 million people aged 60 or over in around 8.5 million households received a payment; around 6.3 million of these recipients were women. In addition those aged 75 and over, the majority of whom are women, have been eligible for a free TV licence since February last year.
	Under pension sharing legislation, couples whose divorces commenced on or after 1 December 2000 are able to apply to the courts to share the capitalised value of any pension rights held by either or both of them, a measure which benefits many women.
	The Government recognise the importance of providing people with sound information on which types of pension provision best suit their individual need and circumstances. We will ensure that clear and understandable guidance is available to assist people in planning for their pension provision. So far, we have produced a series of leaflets to inform the public of the pension options open to them. One of these, "Pensions for Women", outlines the pension options available specifically for women.

State Pension

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost in a financial year of increasing the state retirement pension for (a) single pensioners by (i) £5 for those aged up to 74 years, (ii) £10 for those aged 75 to 79 years, (iii) £15 for those aged 80 years and over and (b) for married pensioner couples by (i) £8 for those aged up to 74 years, (ii) £18 for those aged 75 to 79 years, and (iii) £28 for those aged 80 years and over per week.

Nick Brown: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table:
	
		Costs in 2002–03 of increasing the basic state retirement pension for single pensioners by the specified amounts or a proportion of the specified amounts
		
			   Additional costs in 2002–03 £ 
		
		
			 Up to 74 years 420 million 
			 75–79 years 540 million 
			 80 years and over 1.33 billion 
			 Total cost 2.29 billion 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Costs are in cash terms, rounded to the nearest £10 million, based on September 2001 GB administrative data.
	2. Costs relate to recipients of category A, AB and B pensions only.
	3. Figures represent the additional cost of introducing the principle set out in part (a) of the question rather than the stated increase in the basic state pension in 2002–03.
	4. The costs are gross.

EU Pensions Directive

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations have been made (a) by his Department to the EU and (b) to his Department in respect of the proposed EU Pensions directive.

Ian McCartney: Officials from the Department, together with their colleagues from the Treasury, are members of the council working group which is discussing the draft directive on the prudential supervision of occupational pension schemes. The directive has also been discussed at routine meetings between Ministers and their European counterparts. Ministers and officials frequently meet and receive representations from a range of organisations with an interest in occupational pension provision. The subjects discussed have included the draft directive.

Pensioners

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 18 March, Official Report, column 145W, to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb), on pensioners, how many (a) men and (b) women not making national insurance contributions or receiving credits in the years mentioned were (i) under 24 years of age and (ii) full-time students.

Ian McCartney: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
	
		Number of people, aged 16 to 23, who have neither paid national insurance contributions nor received credits for pension purposes in each financial year since 1979 -- Thousands
		
			  Men Women Total 
		
		
			 1979–80 61 323 384 
			 1980–81 60 345 405 
			 1981–82 60 371 431 
			 1982–83 55 361 416 
			 1983–84 49 366 416 
			 1984–85 52 357 409 
			 1985–86 55 345 400 
			 1986–87 62 337 398 
			 1987–88 72 344 416 
			 1988–89 80 340 419 
			 1989–90 95 342 437 
			 1990–91 102 354 455 
			 1991–92 106 371 477 
			 1992–93 106 360 466 
			 1993–94 99 349 448 
			 1994–95 92 309 401 
			 1995–96 86 278 364 
			 1996–97 102 269 371 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are taken from a 1 per cent. sample so are subject to rounding error and are rounded to the nearest thousand.
	2. Figures exclude those not registered on NIRS in each year (particularly affecting women in the early years of this analysis and those aged 18–21).
	Source:
	Figures are taken from the Lifetime Labour Market Database (LLMDB), extracted from the National Insurance Recording System.

Pensioners

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the number of pensioners with low incomes who are living alone and who are not in recept of IS or CTB.

Ian McCartney: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is contained in the publication, "Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take Up 1999–2000". Copies are available in the Library.

Pensioners

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the gap between the average income of the best off fifth of pensioners and the least well off was in the last year for which figures are available.

Maria Eagle: The information requested is contained in Table 13 of the National Statistics publication "The Pensioners' Incomes Series 1999–2000" a copy of which is available in the Library.

Winter Fuel Payments

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures his Department has taken to ensure that winter fuel payments are not paid twice to the same household.

Malcolm Wicks: Many households are entitled to more than one winter fuel payment. This is because whether a person is entitled to a winter fuel payment and, if so, at what level, is determined by their personal circumstances in a set qualifying week. An individual who is the only eligible person in that household will receive £200. However, where an eligible person shares a household with another eligible person, each will be entitled to £100, unless income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance is in payment, when the winter fuel payment is £200 per benefit unit.
	We have procedures in place to ensure that all eligible people in a household receive the correct level of winter fuel payment. The addresses on the various benefit computer systems are cross-referenced and matched against each other where appropriate. By doing this, the correct level of payment can be determined.
	As a further check, we use staff with local knowledge to identify cases where the nature of the address may cause an incorrect level of payment to be issued.

Winter Fuel Payments

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether someone aged over 60 remains eligible for the winter fuel payment if they move to another EU country; and in what other circumstances a British person living abroad can claim the benefit.

Ian McCartney: Department officials met recently with officials from the European Commission to discuss the extent of the Government's responsibilities regarding winter fuel payments under Community law. As a result, we expect to bring this matter to a close shortly.

Winter Fuel Payments

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 959W, on winter fuel payments, if he has concluded his discussions with the European Commission about the extent of the United Kingdom's legal obligations under European regulations on winter fuel payments; and if he will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: No, but we hope to do so as soon as possible.

Winter Fuel Payments

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Clwyd, South are in receipt of the winter fuel allowance.

Nick Brown: Figures for this year are not yet available. For details of last year's payments I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed) on 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 152W.

Sandler Review

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many responses to the Sandler Review had been received by the end of the consultation period; and when he expects the review to provide its report to the Government.

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
	The Sandler review is an independent review of the retail savings industry. More than 200 responses have been submitted to the review team, which is expected to report to the Government in the summer.

TREASURY

Public Relations Consultants

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by his Department and bodies for which it is responsible on external public relations consultants in each of the last four years.

Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:
	
		£000 
		
			 Department 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 HMT 0 0 0 0 0 
			 IR 0 0 0 0 0 
			 HMCE 0 0 0 0 0 
			 OGC-CCTA 0 0 0 0 0 
			 OGC-PACE 0 0 0 45 66 
			 OGCBS 0 0 0 0 0 
			 DMO 0 0 0 0 0 
			 NSI 21 35 147 60 173 
			 ONS 0 0 0 0 202 
			 RM 114 111 113 117 119 
			 VO 0 0 0 0 0 
			 GAD 0 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	Note:
	Values are inclusive of VAT and rounded up to the nearest £1,000.
	Detail of the expenditure for each Department is contained in the following table:
	
		
			  Amount (£) Project Company used 
		
		
			 OGC—(PACE)
			 1996–97 — PACE was launched as an agency in April 1996. Since the costs for PR for the launch were incurred in the previous financial year they have not been included in this table.  
			 1999–2000 45,000 Burtonwood Disposal Roland Dransfield Ltd. 
			 2000–01 66,000 Burtonwood Disposal Roland Dransfield Ltd. 
			 National Savings
			 1996–97 21,798 Consumer Roadshows Not available 
			 1997–98 34,039 Regional PR Activities Key Communications Ltd. 
			  529 Inflation and interest rates Financial Perspectives Ltd. 
			 1998–99 3,408 Quarterly PR Bulletin Financial Perspectives Ltd. 
			  111,675 PR Support for NS ISA launch Hill and Knowlton (UK) Ltd. 
			  25,667 PR Consultancy re: Premium Bonds Register Larkin Ltd. 
			  5,875 Consultancy re: PR campaigns Citigate Dewe Rogerson 
			 1999–2000 49,879 Consultancy re: PR campaigns Citigate Dewe Rogerson 
			  9,988 Radio editorial coverage EMR 
			 2000–01 28,842 Broadcast support services Bulletin International Ltd. 
			  84,367 Consultancy re: PR campaigns Citigate Dewe Rogerson 
			  18,277 Radio editorial coverage EMR 
			  41,202 Consultancy re: PR campaigns The Red Consultancy 
			 Office for National Statistics
			 2000–01 202,000 Publicity advice for the 2001 Census Bell Pottinger 
			 Royal Mint
			 Detailed information by year not available but total spend over the period 1996–97 to 2000–01: 574,000 Press Office support; Launch of an average of two commemorative coinage issues per year; Crisis management; General PR activity of coinage; Publication of annual results. Good Relations

Departmental Staff

Christopher Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff left the service of his Department and its agencies in the year ended 31 March 2001; how many left before attaining the formal retirement age of 60 years; and in respect of how many his Department and its agencies assumed responsibilities for making payments until retirement age.

Ruth Kelly: The information is as follows:
	
		Number of leavers in the year ended 31 March 2001
		
			 Department/Agency Total number of leavers Before retirement age Early retirement 
		
		
			 HM Treasury 126 117 10 
			 Inland Revenue 3,451 2,965 46 
			 Customs and Excise 1,081 858 168 
			 Office of Government Commerce/ Buying Agency 73 64 7 
			 Debt Management Office 3 3 0 
			 National Savings 21 20 6 
			 Office for National Statistics 520 493 0 
			 Royal Mint 39 39 2 
			 Valuation Office 272 36 20 
			 Government Actuary's Department 9 8 0

Non-Governmental Organisations

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list non-governmental organisations operating in the south-west region that receive public funds from his Department; and what amount of annual funding they received in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Ruth Kelly: None that I am aware of.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to his Department that have been implemented in each of the last four years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to businesses of each.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested is not held centrally and providing it would involve disproportionate cost. Regulatory impact assessments are produced for all proposals, including those originating in European legislation, likely to impose significant costs on businesses in the UK and are generally made available in the Libraries of the House. We do not hold information on the costs to public funds of implementation.

VAT

David Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects HM Customs and Excise to (a) complete, (b) submit to Ministers and (c) publish their estimate of VAT losses and their strategies to tackle them.

Paul Boateng: holding answer 4 March 2002
	The Government will prepare and publish any such estimates within the framework set out in Paragraph 2.4 of its "Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud" paper, published alongside the pre-Budget report.

VAT

George Stevenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much VAT was paid by (a) further education colleges and (b) schools in the state sector in the last year for which figures are available.

Paul Boateng: The information requested is not available.

Pension Schemes

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the case of a small, self- administered pension scheme with one member who is also the managing trustee, the existence of a pensioner trustee takes the situation outside the exemption granted by section 36 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Michael Wills: I have been asked to reply.
	In the first instance, responsibility for interpreting the Data Protection Act 1998 lies with the Information Commissioner. I understand that her view is that small, self-administered pension schemes do not benefit from the exemption provided by section 36 of the 1998 Act. I shall consider the case for providing an exemption for such pension schemes from the requirement to give a notification to the Information Commissioner under section 18 of the 1998 Act.

Health Expenditure

Howard Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will announce his plans for health spending in 2004–05 and 2005–06.

Andrew Smith: The Government have said that they will set out the details of departmental spending allocations up to 2005–06 in this year's spending review.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by him since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Ruth Kelly: holding answer 25 March 2002
	Sue Nye was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code.
	For details of unpaid appointments made by the Treasury to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I refer to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie) on 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 958W.

Children's Tax Credit

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent, broken down on an annual basis, on advertising and promoting the children's tax credit.

Dawn Primarolo: The annual spend on advertising and promoting the children's tax credit is as follows.
	
		£ 
		
			 Financial year Expenditure 
		
		
			 2000–01 6,958,527 
			 2001–02 363,625 
		
	
	In this, the third phase of children's tax credit, applications were driven from 2.7 million up to 3.8 million, reflecting the success of this advertising. The response can be measured by the fact that following the advertising we took over two million telephone calls.

Working Families Tax Credit

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of administering the working families tax credit in the last year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 9 November 2001, Official Report, column 438W.

Tobacco Smuggling

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officers are allocated by Customs and Excise to control the entry of contraband tobacco into the UK.

Paul Boateng: The Law Enforcement arm of Customs comprises just under 7,500 staff, divided primarily between Detection, Intelligence and Investigation units. Many staff, particularly those in Detection, are multi- functional, working across the broad range of Customs responsibilities including tackling indirect tax fraud, the supply of Class A drugs and other import/export prohibitions and restrictions.
	In March 2000, the Government published the "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" strategy. This strategy included funding for an additional 955 Customs officers throughout the UK. This represented a broad doubling of Customs resource dedicated to tackling tobacco smuggling.

Tobacco Smuggling

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of growth of tobacco smuggling in 2000–01 was.

Paul Boateng: The estimated number of cigarettes smuggled in 1999–2000 and 2000–01 can be found in the xvi report by the Comptroller and Auditor General—Departments of the Chancellor of the Exchequer: HM Customs and Excise Appropriation Accounts 2000–01, paragraph 5.31.

Tobacco Smuggling

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the level of smuggling in 2002–03, as shown by illicit market share, will be reduced.

Paul Boateng: The "Tackling Smuggling" strategy published in March 2000 set out targets for the illicit market share of smuggled cigarettes. These targets have been incorporated into a PSA target for Customs. For 2002–03, the aim is for the illicit market share of smuggled cigarettes to be 21 per cent. or less.
	Information about the achievement of this PSA target will be published in Customs annual report for 2002–03.

Tobacco Smuggling

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what have been the measurable effects in the financial year 2001–02 of HM Customs and Excise targeting the organisers of tobacco smuggling.

Paul Boateng: The "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" strategy published in March 2000 set out targets for the number of smuggling gangs Customs aim to break up or disrupt. These targets have been incorporated into a PSA target for Customs. For 2001–02, the aim is for Customs to break up or disrupt at least 55 tobacco smuggling gangs.
	Information about the achievement of this PSA target will be published in Customs annual report for 2001–02.

Tobacco Smuggling

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what increases in the inland activity of HM Customs and Excise took place in 2001–02 to tackle tobacco smuggling.

Paul Boateng: As part of the "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" strategy published in March 2000, Customs have developed a comprehensive approach to tackle all aspects of the tobacco smuggling problem.
	Customs approach inland is to carefully plan and target their activities to inflict maximum disruption to the illicit inland distribution networks for smuggled tobacco.
	Customs have also introduced new penalties and sanctions designed to disrupt inland supplies of smuggled tobacco. For example, in July 2001, Customs introduced a system for prominent marks to be placed on packs of cigarettes and tobacco indicating UK duty has been paid. This measure makes smuggled cigarettes very easy to identify and provides sanctions designed to hit those who sell smuggled tobacco or allow their premises to be used for selling.

Tax Revenue

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the tax revenue derived from non-domiciles who have (a) UK income or gains and (b) overseas income remitted to the UK in the last year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: The information on which such an estimate would be based is not available.

Taxation (Retirement)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the (a) Treasury and (b) Inland Revenue are reviewing the tax rules about (i) partial and (ii) flexible retirement; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: This issue is kept under regular review and an announcement will be made if it is decided to change the current rules.

Contingency Planning

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what additional expenditure has been incurred on counter-terrorism (a) planning, (b) provisions and (c) defences, including civil defence, since 11 September 2001.

Andrew Smith: Funds have been approved by Parliament in the normal way in Supplementary Estimates. The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave details of additional public spending arising from attacks on the USA on 11 September 2001 in his Pre-Budget Report Statement to Parliament on 27 November 2001. Departments are taking account of the importance of counter-terrorism issues in their departmental priorities and future spending is being considered in the normal way as part of the Spending Review 2002.

GDP

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the GDP per capita growth of (a) the English regions and (b) Wales was in each year since 1997.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Don Foster, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on estimating the GDP per capita growth of the English Regions and Wales in each year since 1997.
	The latest GDP per capita estimates for the countries and regions of the United Kingdom are available up to 1999, and were published as an ONS News Release on 27 February 2001. These data form the basis for the growth rates shown in table 1.
	Regional GDP data are only available on a current price basis. The growth rates shown in the table will therefore include the effects of inflation.
	The publication referred to in this answer is available in the House of Commons Library and on the web at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ regionalaccounts.
	
		Table 1: Gross Domestic Product, £ per head at current basic prices -- Year on year change expressed as a percentage
		
			   1997(55) 1998(55) 1999(55) 
		
		
			 United Kingdom(56) 6.1 5.7 3.4 
			 
			 North East 2.1 4.7 2.9 
			 North West 5.2 4.0 3.3 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 6.2 4.2 3.8 
			 East Midlands 6.5 4.2 2.5 
			 West Midlands 5.2 5.6 3.9 
			 East 7.4 6.3 3.6 
			 London 8.0 8.2 2.2 
			 South East 7.8 6.3 4.1 
			 South West 6.3 4.0 2.9 
			 
			 England 6.6 5.8 3.4 
			 Wales 3.5 5.2 3.8 
			 Scotland 2.4 6.0 3.3 
			 Northern Ireland 6.1 2.6 3.0 
		
	
	(55) Provisional
	(56) Excluding Extra-Regio and the Statistical Discrepancy

Regional Statistics

Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's policy is toward the draft European regulation to recognise and adopt the current NUTS structure.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on Government policy towards the draft European regulation to recognise and adopt the current NUTS structure. (48266)
	During the discussion of the regulation in the Council Working Group, the UK has supported the principle of the regulation, that common definitions must apply if statistics are to be comparable across the Community. However, the UK view has been that the initial draft would benefit from changes. The three principal concerns raised by the UK have been: (i) either that NUTS should provide a breakdown of the whole of the European Union rather than just the economic territory of the Member States, or that it should be clear to users that it does not (ii) that no changes should be imposed by the Commission, and (iii) that the regulation should cover all existing five NUTS levels, not just levels 1, 2 and 3. Council discussions are still underway to resolve the concerns of the UK and other member states. A revised version of the regulation, which seeks to address member states' concerns, will be discussed at a Council Working Group meeting on 16 April 2002 in Brussels.
	UK support for the regulation will be considered on the basis of changes emerging from consideration by the European Parliament and the Council.

Regional Statistics

Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations were received from organisations in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire concerning the consultation on proposals by the Government Statistical Service Committee for Regional Statistics on NUTS area definitions.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 10 April 2002.
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on representations from organisations in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire concerning the Government Statistical Service Regional Statistics Committee consultation on NUTS area definitions. (48265)
	The consultation document was issued in July 1996, and about 120 responses were received by the deadline of September 1996. The organisations based in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight that made representations were the Isle of Wight Council, Wight Training and Enterprise, Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council. Comments relating to the Isle of Wight and Hampshire were also made by Government Office for the South East and the Association of District Councils.
	There was general support for the proposal to make Hampshire and the Isle of Wight separate NUTS2 areas, as opposed to the existing situation of the two areas being a single NUTS2 area. However, one organisation commented that there was no logical reason for such a split. The other main points made by these organisations related to (a) changing the NUTS1 structure for England from Standard Statistical Regions to Government Office Regions—some supporting and some opposing the proposal; and (b) a general welcome for the greater availability of data at the new smaller NUTS3 and NUTS4 levels that the new classification should enable.

Drugs Deaths

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people died as a result of illegal drugs related deaths in Weston-Super-Mare in 2001.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Brian Cotter, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the number of people who died of illegal-drug-related deaths in Weston-Super-Mare in 2001. (47762)
	Figure are not yet available for 2001. In 2001, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 9 deaths to residents of Weston-Super-Mare parliamentary constituency which mentioned drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Cancer Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many men in England have been diagnosed with testicular cancer since 1 January 2000 aged (a) under 25, (b) 25 to 35, (c) 36 to 45, (d) 46 to 55 and (e) over 55 years.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Simon Burns, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of men in England who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer since 1st January 2000 aged (a) under 25, (b) 25 to 35, (c) 36 to 45, (d) 46 to 55 and (e) over 55 years. (46760)
	Figures on the number of newly registered cases of testicular cancer since 1 January 2000 are not yet available. The latest available statistics for England cover registrations of cancer diagnosed in 1998. The table below shows the latest published available information.
	
		Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of testicular cancer by age, 1998, England
		
			  Cases of malignant neoplasm of testis 
		
		
			 Under 25 182 
			 25–34 571 
			 35–44 497 
			 45–54 191 
			 55 and over 100 
		
	
	Source:
	Table 1 from 'Office for National Statistics. "Cancer statistics: registrations 1998, England", series MB1 no. 29' at http://www. statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme—health/MB1—No29.pdf.

Cancer Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the survival rates for patients in England suffering from thyroid cancer over the last three years.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Simon Burns, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the survival rates for patients in England suffering from thyroid cancer over the last three years. (46742)
	The information requested is not available. The latest available figures on survival of thyroid cancer patients relate to England and Wales and were published in "Cancer Survival Trends in England and Wales 1971–1995: deprivation and NHS region" Series SMPS No. 61, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. For patients diagnosed in 1986–90, the five year relative survival rate in England and Wales was 73%.

Cancer Statistics

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the survival rate for bowel cancer is in (a) the UK and (b) other European countries.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Tim Loughton, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on what the survival rate for bowel cancer is in (a) the UK and (b) other European countries. (47550)
	Comparable information on cancer survival in the parts of the UK and Europe covered by the Eurocare II study was published in "Survival of Cancer Patients in Europe: the EUROCARE-2 Study" (IARC Scientific Publications No. 151); a copy is available in the House of Commons Library.
	Information on survival from bowel 1 cancer in England and Wales, Scotland and parts of Europe (see below 2 ) is summarised in Chapter 4 of the book Cancer Survival Trends 3 . Figures for the UK as a whole are not available.
	
		Five-year relative survival (%)
		
			  Colon Rectum  
			  Men Women Men Women 
		
		
			 Europe(58) 47 47 43 43 
			 England and Wales 39 39 37 39 
			 Scotland 41 41 38 39 
		
	
	(57) This includes cancers of the small intestine, colon and rectum (ICD 9 codes 152, 153 and 154, respectively). Survival is usually analysed separately for colon and rectum, (although the rates tend to be similar). There are relatively few cases of cancer of the small intestine: 0.3% of the total in England in 1998.
	(58) Cancer registries in the following European countries participated in the EUROCARE-2 study (those countries with complete coverage of the population by cancer registries are marked *): Austria, Denmark*, England*, Estonia*, Finland*, France, Germany, Iceland*, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland*, Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
	(59) Coleman MP et al. Cancer Survival Trends in England and Wales, 1971–1995: deprivation and NHS Region. Studies in Medical and Population Subjects No. 61. London: The Stationery Office, 1999.

Cancer Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) men and (b) women have been diagnosed with skin cancer in (i) 2002 to the latest available date and (ii) each of the last 10 years.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Simon Burns, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on how many (a) men and (b) women have been diagnosed with skin cancer in (i) 2002 to the latest available date and (ii) each of the last ten years. (46754)
	Figures on the number of newly registered cases of malignant melanoma of the skin for 2002 are not yet available. Registration of non-melanoma skin cancer (which is very common but rarely fatal) is unreliable.
	Figures for malignant melanoma of the skin for the latest available ten years are given in the table below.
	
		Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of malignant melanoma of the skin, by sex, 1989–98, England and Wales.
		
			   Number of cases  
			  Male Female 
		
		
			 1989 1,421 2,385 
			 1990 1,507 2,176 
			 1991 1,488 2,268 
			 1992 1,658 2,512 
			 1993 1,915 2,823 
			 1994 1,909 2,816 
			 1995 1,928 2,872 
			 1996 1,938 2,767 
			 1997 2,092 2,834 
			 1998 2,257 2,989

Asthma

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children have died as a result of asthma symptoms in each of the last 10 years.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Tim Loughton, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the number of children dying as a result of asthma symptoms in each of the last 10 years. (47458)
	The latest available figures are for the 10 years 1991–2000. Figures for children aged under 16 are given in the table below.
	
		Number of deaths occurring to children aged under 16(60) with an underlying cause of death of asthma(61) in England and Wales in the calendar years 1991 to 2000
		
			 Calendar year(62) Number of deaths 
		
		
			 1991 40 
			 1992 24 
			 1993 21 
			 1994 32 
			 1995 18 
			 1996 22 
			 1997 22 
			 1998 24 
			 1999 24 
			 2000 24 
		
	
	(60) Excludes deaths under 28 days.
	(61) International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD9), code 493.
	(62) Figures up to 1992 relate to death registrations in each calendar year. From 1993 they relate to deaths occurring each year.

Taxation

Michael Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he proposes to publish illustrations of the effect of direct and indirect taxes in the Budget on various specimen households.

Andrew Smith: The Budget documentation will contain relevant and meaningful analyses showing the impact of the Budget on different types of households.

Indirect Taxes

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what improvements in risk targeting he has initiated in 2001–02 in HM Customs and Excise in order more effectively to tackle serious non-compliance in the payment of indirect taxes.

Paul Boateng: As part of Customs' recent restructuring, greater emphasis is being placed on risk assessment, both at national and regional levels. During 2001–02 National Risk Managers have been appointed for VAT, Excise and International trade, supported by Risk Managers in each of the seven Customs geographical regions.
	Special teams have also been established to tackle risks in relation to VAT Missing Trader Intra-Community fraud and VAT Avoidance, while 20 joint teams have been set up alongside the Inland Revenue and the Department for Work and Pensions specifically to identify and tackle businesses operating in the informal economy.
	Following the independent investigation conducted by John Roques into excise diversion fraud, regional and national teams have also been set up to target risk in relation to excise warehouses, complementing the risk-based controls applied to goods entering the country under duty suspense.

Aggregates Levy

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research his Department undertook to ascertain the effects of the aggregates tax on the (a) rate proposed in the UK and (b) rates levied in other European Union countries.

Paul Boateng: The independent research which underpins the aggregates levy considered all aspects of the environmental damage caused by aggregate extraction. These environmental costs are reflected in the levy's rate of £1.60 per tonne.
	Aggregate taxes in other EU member states are a matter for the individual states themselves.

Aggregates Levy

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research his Department undertook to ascertain the effects of the aggregates tax on (a) individual quarries in parts of the UK, (b) local government finance and (c) employment in the construction industry.

Paul Boateng: A Regulatory Impact Assessment for the aggregates levy was published at the time of Budget 2000. It is available from the Customs and Excise website.

Aggregates Levy

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from the (a) Scottish Executive and (b) Welsh Assembly on the subject of the aggregates levy.

Paul Boateng: The Government has received a large number of representations regarding the aggregates levy, and has held discussions regarding its implementation with a wide range of organisations both within and outside of Government.

Aggregates Levy

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total amount that will be received from Scotland in each of the next five years from the aggregates levy at the proposed rate.

Paul Boateng: No such estimate has been made.

Aggregates Levy

David Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the introduction of the aggregates levy on the implementation of public sector infrastructure projects.

Paul Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) on 10 December 2001, Official Report, column 687W.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by his Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose.

Ruth Kelly: None.

Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by his Department.

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury holds a multiple form TV licence at a cost of £327 covering its three buildings—Parliament street, Allington towers and Downing street.

CITES

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what percentage and how many seizures by HM Customs of illegal wildlife items under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species System resulted in successful prosecution in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what the financial value is of illegal wildlife items seized by HM Customs under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species System in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what plans he has to increase the maximum sentence for import of wildlife items under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species System; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  how many successful prosecutions have been brought under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species System in each year since 1997.

Paul Boateng: HM Customs and Excise is responsible for enforcement of the restrictions on import and export from or to countries outside the European Union on goods covered by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species and EU regulations made to implement the Convention. It is not responsible for the enforcement of controls on trade within the UK or European Union. Maximum penalties for illegal import or export are seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. There are no plans to increase these penalties.
	Details of the number of seizures in each year since 1997 and the number of successful prosecutions are:
	
		
			 Calendar year Number of seizures Persons successfully prosecuted 
		
		
			 1997 495 None 
			 1998 498 None 
			 1999 336 None 
			 2000 441 1 
			 2001 434 2 
			 2002(63) (64)— 3 
		
	
	(63) To date
	(64) Not available
	The financial value of illegal wildlife items seized is not recorded since there is no legal trade in prohibited goods to provide a basis for valuation.

Correspondence

James Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters he has received from the public since June 2001; what his target time is for reply; what percentage of letters were replied to within that time; and of those exceeding it, what the range is of time spans in which he has replied.

Paul Boateng: Between 1 June 2001 and 28 February 2002 13,459 letters were received of which 79 per cent. were replied to within the 15 working day target. A breakdown of time spans for those exceeding target is not known and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to improve the response time to Parliamentary questions.

Paul Boateng: An increasing proportion of parliamentary questions has been answered on time by the Treasury in each session since PSA targets were introduced in 1998–99, and the Department is on track to meet its targets again in the present session.

Parliamentary Questions

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average number of days, in excess of the day the question was put down for answer, that it has taken him to answer questions from (a) Opposition party hon. Members and (b) Government party hon. Members since 1 January; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Boateng: 5.2 and 5.5 days respectively. However, 1,205 of the 1,522 written Parliamentary questions (79.1 per cent.) answered by Treasury Ministers between 1 January and 26 March received replies on or before the due date for answering.

Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in his Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Andrew Smith: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the Budget report on 17 April.

Wanless Report

Michael Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Buckingham on 25 February, Official Report, column 1045W, whether he has set a date for the publication of the Wanless report.

Andrew Smith: No date has yet been set for the publication of Mr. Wanless' final report.

London Underground

Michael Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions (a) Ministers and (b) officials from HM Treasury have met (i) Ministers and (ii) officials from the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions to discuss the potential liabilities to the Exchequer which will arise from underwriting the contingent liabilities of the public private partnerships for London Underground, as proposed in the letters of comfort and Minute from the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions to the partners in the PPP presented to Parliament on 21 March.

Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with colleagues in other Departments on a wide range of subjects on a regular basis.

London Underground

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place the accounting advice he has received from the Office of National Statistics on the treatment of the commitments given in the London Underground Public Private Partnership letter of comfort in the Library; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Smith: The Office for National Statistics has not been asked for advice on the London Underground Public Private Partnership.
	The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions' Resource Accounts are drawn in accordance with the Treasury Resource Accounting Manual, which takes account of all Financial Reporting standards pronounced by the Accounting Standards Board. The contingent liability arising from any letters of comfort would therefore be recorded as a Note to the Department's Resource Accounts.

Network Rail

Michael Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions regarding the underwriting of the debt of Network Rail by means of potential emergency loans from the Strategic Rail Authority.

Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with colleagues in other Departments on a wide range of subjects on a regular basis.

Ministerial Travel

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times Ministers in his Department have travelled abroad at taxpayers' expense since March 2001; what countries they visited; and what the total cost of each visit was.

Ruth Kelly: Treasury Ministers, including the Chancellor have made 40 trips abroad since March 2001 and visited USA, Belgium, Italy, Canada, Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Germany, San Juan, Spain, Ireland, Korea, Malawi and Japan. Total cost of the visits was £110,250.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what new measures his Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Ruth Kelly: It is not the Treasury's practice to comment on protective security measures.

Scottish Transport Group

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make public (a) correspondence, records of verbal communication and other documents and communications between himself and the Scottish Executive and (b) advice which he has received in connection with the Scottish Transport Group Pension schemes, the winding up thereof and the disposal of and entitlement to surplus funds therefrom.

Andrew Smith: The Scottish Executive is responsible for these schemes. They announced in December 2000 how the surplus is being distributed.

Scottish Transport Group

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated value is of the Scottish Transport Group pension fund at 31 March; and whether increases in the value of the fund following 31 March 2000 will accrue to (a) the fund and (b) Her Majesty's Government.

Andrew Smith: The Scottish Executive announced in November 2001 that the estimated net of tax surplus as at 31 March 2001 is £168 million and that £118 million is to be distributed as ex gratia payments by the Scottish Executive, which includes an additional £18 million as a result of an increase in the net of tax surplus. The size of the surplus as at 31 March 2002 is not yet known.

Scottish Transport Group

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reasons underlie the proposed distribution of the surplus from the Scottish Transport Group pension schemes; what part of the distributed surplus is to be used for a contingency fund in respect of indemnities against the risk of legal action based on the actions of trustees; and whether in the event that there are no successful claims against that contingency fund, it will be the subject of a subsequent distribution to Scottish Transport Group pensioners.

Andrew Smith: The wind-up of the STG pension schemes is being taken forward by the trustees and the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Executive has announced that £118 million will be made available as ex gratia payments to pensioners. I understand that there is no intention that any part of that sum will be used for a contingency fund against potential legal action.

Tax Thresholds

Michael Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the threshold for paying (a) tax and (b) higher rate tax, in relation to average earnings, has changed since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: The new earnings survey provides the best estimates for average earnings and the income tax personal allowance and thresholds are in annex A of Inland Revenue Statistics. The most recent edition is on the Inland Revenue website http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/ tax—structure/menu.htm.

Sustainability Fund

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total amount that will be paid to Scotland from the Sustainability Fund in each of the next five years.

Andrew Smith: The Scottish Executive's share of the Sustainability Fund is estimated at £3 million in 2002–03 and 2003–04. Decisions on the size of the Fund in subsequent years, and consequently the total amounts the Scottish Executive will receive in these years, have yet to be made.

Private Finance Initiative

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total liability to the Exchequer of current PFI projects and the expected liability of planned PFIs.

Andrew Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Eccles (Ian Stewart) on 7 February 2002, Official Report, columns 1144–46W.

Road Pricing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when road pricing for hauliers will be introduced.

Paul Boateng: The Government published a consultation document "Modernising the Taxation of the Haulage Industry" alongside 2001 pre-Budget report. The consultation closed on 8 February and the Government are considering the responses ahead of the Budget.

Strip Stamps

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what analysis he has conducted of the experiences of countries that have abolished their strip stamp regimes;
	(2)  what analysis has been conducted of the experiences of countries that considered introducing strip stamps but then decided against it;
	(3)  whether the proposed whisky strip stamps would apply to miniature bottles of whisky.

Paul Boateng: Customs and Excise are considering a wide range of issues as part of their ongoing consultation on the costs, benefits and practicalities of introducing a tax stamps system for spirits. This includes the experiences of other countries and the various sizes of container to which tax stamps would be affixed.

Strip Stamps

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from the Scotland Office with regards to the proposed whisky strip stamps.

Paul Boateng: The Chancellor and his Ministers meet regularly with their Ministerial colleagues to discuss a wide range of issues.

National Insurance

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's income in 2001–02 was on national insurance on earned income from (a) employers and (b) employees.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer my hon. Friend to Appendix 6 of Cm5383—Report by the Government Actuary on the drafts of the social security benefits up-rating order 2002 and the social security (Contributions) (re-rating and National Insurance Funds payments) order 2002.

National Insurance

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of revenue for financial year 2001–02 if top band taxpayers paid national insurance on unearned income.

Dawn Primarolo: If higher rate taxpayers paid national insurance on their taxed investment income then this would yield some £¼ billion in 2001–02. This estimate is based on the Survey of Personal Incomes.

National Insurance

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's income on national insurance is from taxpayers in the 40 per cent. income tax band.

Dawn Primarolo: The Government Actuary's Department estimate that some £6 billion primary class 1, class 2 and class 4 accrue in 2001–02 from higher rate taxpayers.

Tax Credit Fraud

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the extent of fraud in tax credits; what assessment he has made of the Inland Revenue benchmarking exercise of fraud in tax credits; and if he will publish the benchmarking exercise.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 February 2002, Official Report, column 815W.

Unearned Income Tax

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are paying tax at 40 per cent. on unearned income.

Dawn Primarolo: In 2001–02 some two million taxpayers were liable to tax at the higher rate on their investment income. This estimate is based on the Survey of Personal Income.

Alcohol Imports

Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce a system of prior-approval for legitimate import of alcohol for personal use.

Paul Boateng: The vast majority of people who import alcohol for personal use enter the UK without encountering any fiscal checks. A system of prior- approval would represent a significant restriction on movement of goods and people. It would be costly to introduce and could be held to contravene the UK's long-standing obligations under the Treaties of the European Union.

Alcohol Duty

Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to receive the proposals from the EU on minimum duty rates on alcoholic drinks.

Paul Boateng: The Commission proposals on EU minimum duty rates on alcoholic drinks are long overdue and are expected later on this year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if the PSA target for UK revenue evasion prevention (a) was met in 2000–01 and (b) will be met in 2001–02;
	(2)  when the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to pay 100 per cent. of undisputed invoices within 30 days will be met;
	(3)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to set up a virtual call centre structure to support the introduction of a national helpline for VAT, excise and customs freight by 31 March will be met;
	(4)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the HM Customs and Excise target of 18,500 detections of import and export irregularities will be met by the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review period;
	(5)  what recent assessment he has made of whatever the PSA target to ensure that by 2005 100 per cent. of HM Customs and Excise services are offered electronically, and that the take-up rate for these services is at least 50 per cent., will be met;
	(6)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to increase its electronic communications with traders from 29 per cent. to 58 per cent. of potential dealing by 31 March will be met;
	(7)  what recent assessment he has made of whatever the PSA target to improve value for money in HM Customs and Excise by achieving average annual productivity gains of at least 2.5 per cent. per year until March 2004, without detriment to accuracy or customer satisfaction, will be met;
	(8)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target in HM Customs and Excise to stabilise the level of smuggling in 2001–02 will be met;
	(9)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to have identified annual savings of at least £5 million on estate spending by 31 March will be met on time;
	(10)  if the target for the number of detections of indecent or obscene material featuring children, a performance indicator listed on page 49 of the 2001 departmental report of HM Customs and Excise, (a) was met in 2000–01 and (b) will be met in 2001–02;
	(11)  what recent assessment he has made of whatever the PSA target to limit the market share taken by smuggled goods will be met on time;
	(12)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to implement the Procurement Review by 31 March will be met;
	(13)  if the PSA target for HM customs and Excise to collect the amount of forecast UK revenue yield from indirect taxes (a) was met in 2000–01 and (b) will be met in 2001–02;
	(14)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to reduce sickness absence by 2001 was met;
	(15)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to increase customer satisfaction by 6 per cent. in VAT, customs freight and excise will be met in 2001–02;
	(16)  what improvements have taken place in 2001–02 in the level of compliance with Customs and statistical requirements of businesses engaged in international trade;
	(17)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for the reduction in sickness absence in HM Customs and Excise by 2003 will be met;
	(18)  what reductions in the costs to business of compliance with the main UK duties and taxes payable to HM Customs and Excise were achieved in 2001–02;
	(19)  what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to assess requests for international technical assistance against its overall objectives and strategic priorities and to provide a first class service to sponsors and recipients to achieve the agreed goals will be achieved in 2001–02;
	(20)  if the PSA target for HM Customs and Excise to review at least 60 per cent. by value of its services by March will be met;
	(21)  if the PSA targets for HM Customs and Excise to reduce the availability of drugs in the UK (a) were met in 2000–01 and (b) will be met in 2001–02;
	(22)  if the PSA target in HM Customs and Excise for 75 per cent. of the members of the Government Procurement Service in key designated posts to have, or to be working towards, a graduate level procurement qualification by 31 March 2000 was met.

Paul Boateng: Information on performance against targets in 2000–01 is set out in the Customs and Excise's Report and Financial Statements published on 25 March 2002 (Cm 5309). Information on progress against targets in 2001–02 will be published in Customs' forthcoming departmental report.

Carrier Bags

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue to HM Exchequer which would result from the imposition of a tax on carrier bags in the UK at the same rate as in Eire.

Paul Boateng: The Government keeps all taxes under review, but has not calculated the revenue that such a tax would bring.

Post-conflict Assistance Accounts

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress was made on post-conflict assistance accounts for countries which have not reached decision point under the HIPC Initiative at the Financing for Development in Mexico.

Paul Boateng: There was no formal discussion on the Post Conflict Assistance Account at the UN Financing for Development Conference. However, the Post Conflict Assistance Account has been successfully established and has already provided assistance for six countries. The Department for International Development was the first contributor to this account, and the Government will continue to press for other countries to contribute.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to discuss the Poverty Reduction Strategy papers under preparation with the IMF and World Bank at their Spring Meeting in April 2002, with particular reference to the (a) financial resources required to achieve the 2015 development targets, (b) creation of a post-conflict assistance account and (c) definition of debt sustainability.

Paul Boateng: We expect the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings to cover a broad range of issues of relevance to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; including support HIPC Initiative and support for countries emerging from conflict and the need to increase the level and effectiveness of finance for development.
	In addition, the Government will continue to press for action to ensure that HIPC countries leave the process with sustainable levels, and that in particular each country will have its debt sustainability reviewed at Completion Point and will receive additional debt relief as appropriate.
	The Post-Conflict Assistance Account had been set up following last Spring Meetings and the UK has been the first country to contribute to this fund. Several countries have already benefited from this account and the Government will continue to press for other donors to contribute.

Monterrey Conference

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions took place at the Financing for Development Conference in Mexico regarding the achievement of the UN target for spending national income on overseas development assistance and the effect this would have on achieving the 2015 development goals.

Paul Boateng: Discussions at the Financing for Development conference in Monterrey covered all aspects of development finance, focusing on the UN target for developed countries to give 0.7 per cent. of national income as official development assistance, as a means of financing the Millennium Development Goals. The UK delegation, led by the Secretary of State for International Development, played a central role in these discussions. Countries attending the conference agreed principles representing a new partnership for development; reaffirmed the UN target, and strengthened their commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
	In preparation for the conference, EU member states agreed to raise their development assistance to an average of 0.39 per cent. of national income by 2006. The UK was instrumental in securing this agreement by the EU, which will mean an additional $7 billion each year for poor countries by 2006. Together with the US announcement of an additional $5 billion, the additional resources announced at Monterrey will total $12 billion per year after 2006. These announcements of substantial additional aid, and the broad consensus reached on the measures required by all Governments to secure more, and more effective finance for development, helped to ensure a successful conference.

Monterrey Conference

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions took place at the Financing for Development Conference regarding his Department's Hold in Trust policy on debt repayments for countries which have not yet reached decision point within HIPC.

Paul Boateng: The Government continue to press other countries to follow the UK's Hold in Trust policy. While there were no formal discussions scheduled on this issue at the UN Financing for Development Conference, there was agreement reached on the need to keep debt sustainability under review, and to take into account any external shocks when updating debt sustainability at Completion Point.

Scotch Whisky Duty

Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax was raised by duty on Scotch whisky in each of the last 10 years.

Paul Boateng: Information on total duty receipts from spirits can be found in HM Customs and Excise "Spirits Factsheet", a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. Information on duty receipts from Scotch whisky is not collected separately.

Annuities

Richard Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will raise the age at which it becomes mandatory to purchase an annuity from 75 to 80 years.

Ruth Kelly: The consultation document, "Modernising Annuities", issued on 5 February, makes it clear that the Government continue to believe that, in the current circumstances, age 75 should remain the upper limit for turning pension savings into retirement income.

Tax Returns

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of businesses submitted their indirect tax returns correctly at the first attempt in (a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01.

Paul Boateng: Customs VAT systems perform automated checks once a VAT return has been received.
	(a) Within the financial year 1999–2000 Customs received approximately 7.3 million VAT returns of which 98.2 per cent. were processed satisfactorily at the first attempt.
	(b) For 2000–01, Customs received 7.3 million VAT returns of which 98.1 per cent were processed satisfactorily at the first attempt.

Credit Unions

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that the Financial Services Authority helps credit unions meet the new regulatory framework.

Ruth Kelly: The FSA recognises that transition to the new regulatory environment will be challenging for some credit unions. That is why, last autumn, Sir Howard Davies outlined to me a strategy for facilitating transition through a Credit Unions Support Programme: a proposal to which I gave my full support, and one which FSA has now brought to fruition.

Forest Stewardship Council

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will increase taxation on wood imported into the UK that does not meet standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council or equivalent credible and international certification systems.

Paul Boateng: All options for taxes are kept under review as part of the Budget process.

Objective 1

Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will award the National Assembly funding to cover the match funding of Objective 1 projects in Wales;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the amount of match funding awarded to the National Assembly to cover Objective 1 programmes.

Andrew Smith: Additional provision of some £272 million was made available to the National Assembly in the 2000 spending review to ensure funding of the EU share of its Objective 1 needs.

State Aid

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross contribution was from public funds in 2000 and 2001 to (a) manufacturing and (b) farming.

Andrew Smith: According to the European Commission's Ninth Survey on State Aid in the European Union, total state aid to the manufacturing sector in the UK in 1999 totalled 1,238.8 million euro (in 1999 prices). 1999 is the latest year for which State Aid Survey figures are available.
	According to the latest available figures, DTI spending on the promotion of enterprise, innovation and increased productivity was forecast to be £867 million in 2000–01, and £983 million in 2001–02. A significant proportion, though not all, of this money will have benefited manufacturing directly or indirectly.
	Total public expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy and on national grants and subsidies for farming was £3,043 million in 2000–01, and is forecast to be £5,255 million in 2001–02.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Aggregate Dredging

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria and what time scale is being used by her Department for the issuing of aggregate dredging licences for the Brucey's Garden Area of the NW Dogger shipping area of the North sea; and if she will make a statement.

Sally Keeble: I have been asked to reply.
	Marine aggregate dredging licences are issued by the Crown Estate which owns nearly all of the seabed out to the UK 12 mile territorial limit and has rights to all minerals within the UK share of the European Continental Shelf. It issues licences only if the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions first issues a favourable 'Government View' on the proposed dredging.
	The Crown Estate has received no dredging licence applications for the Brucey's Garden Area of the North West Dogger shipping area of the North sea but has received applications from two nearby areas, called North West Rough and Southernmost Rough. No applications in those areas have yet been submitted to the Secretary of State for a Government View.
	If they are, as in all other cases, they will be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, including a Coastal Impact Study, and wide consultation with other Government Departments, relevant coastal local authorities and other bodies having responsibilities for the protection of the marine environment. The Secretary of State would not issue a favourable Government View unless he was satisfied that there will be no adverse impact on the coast and no unacceptable effect on the marine environment that could not be mitigated through the observance of conditions attached to the licence.
	Time scales for the issue of marine dredging licences are a matter for the Crown Estate. Suggested time scales for processing and determining applications for a Government View are set out in the former DETR/WO publication "Government View: New Arrangements for the Licensing of Minerals Dredging" dated May 1998.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what priority the home efficiency scheme gives to (a) the elderly and (b) low-income priority groups.

Michael Meacher: The Government's main programme for tackling fuel poverty in the private sector in England is the home energy efficiency scheme (HEES), which is now marketed as 'The Warm Front Team'.
	HEES has been developed to help tackle the problem of fuel poverty, which is caused by a combination of energy inefficient housing and low incomes. Certain people are particularly vulnerable to cold-related ill health—the old, families with children, the disabled and the long term sick. HEES is targeted at these priority households, providing two levels of financial assistance for the installation of insulation and heating measures dependent upon the needs of the householder and property type.
	HEES—up to £1,500 for low income households with children under 16, disabled persons or those suffering a long term sickness on a qualifying benefit; and
	HEES Plus—up to £2,500 for over-60s on an income related benefit.
	All applications to the scheme are treated equally in terms of priority.

Correspondence

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she will reply to the letter of the hon. Member for West Derbyshire, dated 18 July, concerning dormant quarries in the Peak District National Park;
	(2)  when she will answer the letter from the hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 18 July about dormant quarries within the Peak District National Park Authority.

Elliot Morley: The Department transferred the hon. Member's correspondence to the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in December, as they have responsibility for the issue of dormant quarries. I understand that a response was sent on 14 January.
	I am sorry that the hon. Member's parliamentary questions tabled to this Department in October and November were not answered at the time the correspondence was transferred.

Correspondence

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects a reply to be sent to the letters to the Minister for the Environment dated 31 October 2001 and 8 August 2001 concerning Mr. James Bourne of Maldon.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 27 March 2002.

Foot and Mouth

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the conclusions of Professor Mercer's report on foot and mouth in Devon in respect of (a) the handling of the outbreak and (b) the lessons of the 1967 outbreak;

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 1 November 2001
	The report of a committee of Devon County Counsellors chaired by Professor Mercer clearly provides a local perspective and reflects local views and conclusions. I am afraid I do not accept those conclusions. The recommendations of the Northumberland Committee were taken into account as appropriate during the 2001 outbreak. Inevitably, conditions have changed here and in Europe since the Northumberland Committee's report, and the 2001 outbreak was clearly different in nature and extent to the 1967–68 outbreak.
	More generally, the Government's position is set out in its written response to Dr. Iain Anderson's independent Lessons Learned inquiry, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Foot and Mouth

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reports she has received from (a) the Army and (b) the Ministry of Defence, regarding their role during the foot and mouth outbreak.

Margaret Beckett: I have not received any reports from the Army or the Ministry of Defence regarding their role during the foot and mouth outbreak.

Foot and Mouth

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimates she has made of the total cost to public funds of the three inquiries following the foot and mouth epidemic.

Margaret Beckett: The estimated cost of the Policy Commission into the Future of Farming and Food is £176,000 (including gross salary costs of secretariat members). The estimated likely cost of the Royal Society study is £320,000. £620,000 has been set aside for the Lessons Learned Inquiry, which expects to complete its work within its budget.

Foot and Mouth

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice on re-stocking is issued by her Department to farms culled out as part of the foot and mouth disease control measures in 2001.

Elliot Morley: The Department has provided a wide range of advice to livestock farmers on the re-stocking of farms. This was compiled with the help and co-operation of farmers' organisations and representatives and can be found on the Department's website at www.defra.gov.uk/ footandmouth/farmers/index.htm.
	We have explained the procedure that must be followed when restocking which includes arrangements for the cleansing and disinfection of the premises, the testing of flocks of origin and inspection of animals once restocking has commenced. We have also sent out information on biosecurity and herd and flock health including a video on "Biosecurity" and leaflets on "Golden rules for a healthy herd: advice on restocking cattle herds", "Golden rules for a healthy flock: advice on restocking sheep flocks", "TB in cattle; reducing the risk" and "Brucellosis: a reminder for all cattle farmers". These include the recommendation that farmers consult their veterinary surgeon and develop an overall health plan for their herd or flock. This would not only be used for evaluating prospective purchases but could be incorporated into the farm management system.
	To cover the wider issues associated with restocking, the Farm Business Advice Service offer up to five days of free business advice for farmers whose livestock have been slaughtered under FMD control measures. Seminars have also been run covering advice on both business and farming operational issues.

Foot and Mouth

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase levels of inspection of food contained in luggage from countries infected with foot and mouth disease.

Elliot Morley: The Government announced on 26 March a programme of work the aim of which is to reduce exotic animal and plant disease entering the country and then threatening our public health and livestock, agriculture and horticulture industries.
	The programme includes assessing the disease risks posed by personal imports; work to achieve effective inter-agency enforcement co-operation on the ground, and looking at new, more effective ways of working. We will review, in the light of the risk assessment, the appropriate level and type of resources committed to inspection of luggage.

Foot and Mouth

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the cost of the recent foot and mouth disease outbreak to the (a) cattle, (b) pig and (c) sheep sectors.

Elliot Morley: The recent foot and mouth outbreak is estimated to have resulted in losses of some £3.1 billion to agriculture and the food chain. However, some £2.6 billion has been paid by the Government in compensation for slaughtered livestock and payments for disposal and clean up costs. Separate estimates for the different sectors are not available.

Edmonton Incinerator

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  which body carried out the 1997 study into dioxin levels in ash from the Edmonton incinerator;
	(2)  what was the basis on which the 1997 analysis of ash from the Edmonton incinerator showed dioxin levels close to background levels.

Michael Meacher: I am not aware of any formal study carried out in 1997 on dioxin levels in ash from the Edmonton incinerator. However, under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, operators of such plant must provide sufficient information to those managing waste ash to ensure appropriate disposal. From analyses carried out for the operators, there is data showing dioxin levels in electrostatic precipitator ash from the Edmonton incinerator.
	Industry figures for dioxins in ash entering the construction market in 2000 (20–50 ng/Kg I-TEQ) indicated levels close to those found in normal urban soils, which 1999 AEAT figures show to be 4.9–87 ng/Kg I-TEQ, with a mean of 28 ng/Kg I-TEQ. Analysis for the industry is carried out by independent laboratories.

Refrigerator Recycling

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received on the impact on local authorities of the regulations on the recycling of fridges which come into force on 1 January 2002.

Michael Meacher: The Department has received a number of representations from English local authorities concerning EC Regulation 2037/2000 and the collection and disposal of domestic fridges and freezers. We have received representations through stakeholder meetings, individual meetings, letters, e-mail and telephone calls.
	We announced a package of measures to assist local authorities at the end of last year. This included guidance on storage, disposal and funding for local authorities.

Off-farm Employment

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the number of farm women engaged in employment off-farm in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and what recent representations she has received from the Women's Food and Farming Union in respect of the trend in the level of farm incomes.

Elliot Morley: Information on farm women with employment off-farm is not available. Although the Department maintains regular contact with the Women's Food and Farming Union, we have no record of any detailed representations on off-farm employment of farm women.

Secondments

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff were seconded between (a) PWC Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) Deloitte and Touche, (d) KPMG and (e) Andersen and his Department in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) April 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available.

Elliot Morley: One member of staff (formerly of the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions) was seconded to Andersen in January 2001.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many members of staff were employed by her Department on secondment from non-Governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Elliot Morley: The Department employed three members of staff on secondment from non-governmental organisations in 1999, four in 2000 and six in 2001. Secondments refer to all continuous interchange activity of three months or more.

Special Advisers

Tim Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many occasions since 1 May 1997 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity; and if she will list the total cost, including (i) travel, (ii) accommodation and (iii) subsistence allowance, for each occasion.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 27 February 2002
	Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2001, special advisers in the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food travelled abroad on 12 occasions, at an average cost of £515 per trip. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2000 is already in the public domain. All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code, and the Civil Service Management Code.

Community Councils

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on what help is available through (a) her Department and (b) the Countryside Agency to local community councils.

Alun Michael: Support for rural community councils is now provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs through the Countryside Agency. £2.984 million was paid in 2001–02; from 2002–03, under a new three-year service level agreement, £3.334 million will be available each year. Rural community councils may be eligible for funding under other programmes run by DEFRA and the Countryside Agency—for instance if a particular rural community council puts forward a successful bid to run a project under the England Rural Development Programme or within one of the programmes run for us by the agency, but no separate record is kept of money they may have received from such sources.

Timber and Wood Products

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from which companies her Department has obtained its timber and wood products in the past two years.

Elliot Morley: The information requested is not held centrally and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.

Refrigerants

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement indicating what her understanding is of whether part of Article 15, Paragraph 5 of EC Regulation 2037/2000 applies to foam-insulating materials used in pre-2001 manufactured refrigerators and freezers.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 4 March 2002
	Article 16(5) of EC Regulation 2037–2000 requires member states to promote the recovery, recycling and destruction of ozone-depleting substances and to assign to appropriate bodies responsibility for ensuring compliance with the provisions of paragraph 1. Since the obligations under paragraph 1 are also applicable to paragraph 2, the Government's interpretation of paragraph 5 is that it applies in its entirety to insulating foam blown with ozone-depleting substances in any refrigerators or freezers.

Gender-based Assessments

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many gender-based assessments she has undertaken in her Department since June 2001.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 5 March 2002
	The Department's employment practices and procedures are monitored on a regular or rolling basis by gender as well as by ethnicity, disability and full time/part time categories.

Press Office

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department's press office have received (a) termination and (b) redundancy payments in each of the last four years.

Elliot Morley: In the past four years one member of staff in DEFRA's press office has received a redundancy payment. No termination payments have been made.

Anderson Inquiry

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the verbatim oral evidence of witnesses to the Anderson Inquiry will be made public.

Elliot Morley: This is a matter for the Lessons Learned Inquiry. I understand that verbatim transcripts of the public meetings held in Okehampton, Builth Wells, Lockerbie, Newcastle and Carlisle are available on the inquiry website. The transcript of the public meeting held in Harrogate will be published shortly. The inquiry is not otherwise taking verbatim notes of interviews.

Cloud Seeding

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether cloud seeding is allowed in the UK;
	(2)  whether the Government have used cloud seeding in Great Britain since 1972;
	(3)  what research the Government are conducting into cloud seeding; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: None. The Met Office maintains a watching brief on any developments in this area of science, but it has not pursued research into cloud seeding for many years.
	There is no legislation to prevent cloud seeding in the UK.
	The Government have not used cloud seeding since 1972.

Illegal Meat Imports

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Home Office about the level of penalties for convictions of persons having imported meat illegally into the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: We have had no discussions with the Home Office about the current level of penalties, which on conviction are up to two years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to £5,000. This Department is leading an initiative to address the disease risks posed by illegal imports of meat, and our work will look at what additional or improved deterrents might be put in place.

Illegal Meat Imports

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to make her first assessment of the impact of her Department's recent poster campaign at United Kingdom seaports and airports on the dangers of illegal meat imports and associated penalties; how she intends to measure its effect on the number of illegal meat imports made through UK points of entry; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: We are continuously reviewing the impact of our poster campaign. We are undertaking market research to help assess the impact of the posters and provide information on how public awareness can be improved still further. We will also be monitoring and sharing information with enforcement bodies during this time to assess the effects on the number of illegal imports. We have improved our intelligence gathering and sharing of information and there is increased vigilance among enforcement officers.
	We have commissioned a risk assessment of the animal disease risks posed by illegal imports of meat, the results of which will provide information about what further action to reduce the risk is needed and where this will be most effective.
	We are also amending secondary legalisation to generalise powers to search suspect consignments, including personal baggage. We are actively looking at other measures such as warnings on landing cards, use of detector dogs and better use of x-ray technology.

Timber

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received concerning recent shipments of Brazilian mahogany to the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Representations have been received from members of the public, from 10 Members of Parliament and from Greenpeace. In addition illegal logging in Brazil has been the subject of recent parliamentary questions.
	Greenpeace sought to take the Department to judicial review in order to compel DEFRA and HM Customs and Excise to seize a recent importation of Brazilian mahogany. The judgment refusing Greenpeace's application is now the subject of appeal.
	I can assure the hon. Member that we continue to take a strong stance on illegal logging and welcome the Brazilian Government's efforts to tighten controls on the concessions and logging facilities. In particular we totally support the temporary moratorium by the Brazilian Federal Environment Agency on transport and commercialisation of mahogany. My officials are in contact with their opposite numbers in the Brazilian CITES Management Authority and I hope that they will be able to meet shortly to discuss bilateral measures to combat illegal trade. The shipments concerned did have the required documentation complying with Brazilian law and following inquiries made were confirmed by the Brazilian authorities as genuine and in line with CITES regulations.

Access to Information

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which her Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997.

Elliot Morley: No administrative manuals or internal guidance are currently published though certain material, particularly in relation to handling complaints, is published on the DEFRA website.

Forests

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average acreage of new forest land planted in each of the last five years was.

Elliot Morley: The information is given in the table.
	
		Thousands of hectares 
		
			 Year ended 31 March New planting 
		
		
			 1997 4.7 
			 1998 4.4 
			 1999 5.1 
			 2000 5.9 
			 2001 5.9

Forests

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role her Department has played in discussions relating to the fourth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Forestry Commission is actively involved in the discussions and preparatory meetings and will represent the interests of the UK at the conference. Some of the key issues are likely to be national forest programmes, biodiversity and forest conservation, fostering cooperation with central and eastern European countries and cultural and spiritual aspects of sustainable forest management.

Ham Fen Beaver Project

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department was first informed of the situation of the Norwegian beavers involved in the Ham Fen Beaver Project.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 21 March 2002
	I understand that Kent Wildlife Trust contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 30 January 2001 to notify them of the possible importation of beavers for conservation purposes.
	The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), which had responsibility for controls on non-native species was not contacted. The DETR became aware of the situation on 1 May 2001, following the beavers' arrival at Heathrow Airport on 30 April.

Ham Fen Beaver Project

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason the Ham Fen beavers have been held in quarantine for 11 months.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 21 March 2002
	The Norwegian beavers, which are not native to the UK and are subject to import, quarantine and release controls, entered the UK on 30 April 2001 and were subject to six months quarantine, which is now complete.
	The beavers are also subject to release controls. Kent Wildlife Trust made an application for a licence for permission to release some of the beavers to Ham Fen nature reserve, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This application was received on 10 September 2001. It raises some serious environmental questions. The Department has agreed in principle to issue the licence, with conditions, as soon as possible.

Waterways (Kendal Canal)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans the British Waterways Board has to reopen the canal to Kendal; and by what means.

Elliot Morley: British Waterways have announced proposals to restore the northern section of the Lancaster Canal to navigation. The project will be taken forward by the Northern Reaches Restoration Group which comprises British Waterways, local authorities, The Waterways Trust and other voluntary organisations.

Beef

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she will take to secure the lifting of the ban imposed by the French Government on imports of beef from the UK.

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent representations she has made to the Government of France to lift the ban of British beef;
	(2)  what recent representations she has made to the Government of France on compensation for British farmers affected by the ban of British beef;
	(3)  what representations she has made to the Government of France on compensation for British farmers affected by the ban on British beef;
	(4)  what recent representations she has made to the Government of France to lift the ban on British beef.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Secretary of State met the French Agriculture Minister at the 18 March Agriculture Council and made it clear that we expect France to lift its ban on the import of UK beef produced in accordance with the Date-based Export Scheme as soon as possible. However, it is for the Commission to take action to enforce EU law and on 20 March the Commission wrote to the French Government seeking observations on France's failure to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This is the first stage in a process which may lead to a further ECJ case against France.

Beef

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the beef consumed in the UK was imported in the last 10 years for which figures are available; what proportion of the beef imported annually into the European Union is used by the UK for domestic consumption; and what assessment she has made of the effect on the UK beef industry of the European Commission's proposal to increase beef imports from Argentina.

Elliot Morley: The amount of beef imported as a proportion of the total available for consumption in the UK between 1991 to 2000 has fluctuated between 18 per cent. and 25 per cent. Detailed figures are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Beef and veal 1991 1992(65) 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 
		
		
			  Supply and use ('000 tonnes, dcw)(66) 
			 Home-fed production(67) 1,028 973 888 947 1,002 710 698 699 679 
			 Imports from:  
			 the EU(68) 165 160 157 149 145 95 141 92 125 
			 the rest of the world 39 45 52 41 67 74 75 60 59 
			 Exports to(69):  
			 the EU 126 140 167 228 263 64 13 9 9 
			 the rest of the world 31 25 45 65 72 16 1 — — 
			 Total new supply 1,075 1,014 885 844 880 799 901 842 853 
			 Increase in stocks 80 21 -36 -125 -23 67 37 -16 -83 
			 Total available for consumption in the UK 995 993 921 969 903 732 865 858 936 
			 Closing stocks 220 240 204 79 56 123 160 144 61 
			   
			 Imports as % of the total available for consumption in the UK 21 21 23 20 23 23 25 18 20 
		
	
	(65) For comparability with other years, the figures have been adjusted from a 53-week to a 52-week basis where appropriate.
	(66) Does not include meat offals or trade in preserved or manufactured meat products. Boneless meat has been converted to bone-in weights.
	(67) Excludes cattle slaughtered under the over-30-month scheme and selective cull and calves slaughtered under the calf processing aid scheme.
	(68) Includes meat from finished animals imported from the Irish Republic.
	(69) Adjusted, as necessary, for unrecorded trade in live animals.
	Source:
	Statistics (Commodities and Food Division), Economics and Statistics Directorate, DEFRA 26 March 2002
	Imports of beef into the UK originating outside the EU as a proportion of imports into the EU rose from 15 per cent. in 1991 to 31 per cent. in 1996 but then fell to 24 per cent. in 2000. Detailed figures are shown in the table.
	
		Imports from third countries of beef, 1991–2000 -- Units: Thousand tonnes product weight
		
			 Year EU imports UK imports UK imports as % of EU imports 
		
		
			 1991 216.5 33.0 15 
			 1992 219.7 32.4 15 
			 1993 194.9 34.3 18 
			 1994 209.1 43.1 21 
			 1995 161.8 45.9 28 
			 1996 170.3 52.8 31 
			 1997 202.7 57.8 28 
			 1998 177.9 46.4 26 
			 1999 201.3 42.4 21 
			 2000 202.4 48.0 24 
		
	
	Source:
	Eurostat, Comext CD-Rom, Disk No S2/2001, Extracted: 26 March 2002
	This table is not directly comparable with the supply and use table which is expressed in carcase weight and includes the meat equivalent of live trade.
	The EU may import up to 293,690 tonnes of beef, under various concessionary tariff schemes. This represents less than 4 per cent. of EU beef production, which totals approximately 8 million tonnes per year. UK beef consumption is around 900,000 tonnes a year, of which imports from third countries account for less than 10 per cent., around 64,000 tonnes. The proposal to increase imports from Argentina may increase UK third country imports by around 2,000 tonnes.
	Although UK consumption has shown steady recovery since the BSE crisis in 1996, recent estimates of consumption in 2000 and 2001 show a downward trend of 2 per cent. on previous years but an increase of 4 per cent. is expected in 2002.UK beef production fell 8 per cent. in 2001 following the effects of the FMD crisis. Although recovering, UK production is still expected to meet only 69 per cent. of consumer demand in 2002.
	Furthermore, the Community beef market is well protected from third country imports by the use of import tariff systems. While some imports are allowed under certain limited concessionary import schemes, the concessions are limited to a quantity of beef amounting to no more than 5 per cent. of total Community production.

Beef

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she next intends to hold discussions with (a) her French Government counterpart and (b) the European Commission about the continuing French ban on imports of British beef; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Secretary of State repeatedly raises this issue with both her French counterpart and the Commission at Agriculture Councils.
	Action to enforce the Judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) lies with the Commission which wrote to the French Government on 20 March seeking observations on France's failure to comply with the ruling. This is the first stage in a process which may lead to a further ECJ case against France.

Sand Eels

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact on sand eel stocks of the 2002 total allowable catch for sand eel stock.

Elliot Morley: No assessment has yet been made. The fishery operates during the second and third quarters of the year, approximately from May to August.

Horticulture

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much financial support has been granted by HM Government to horticultural research and development projects in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Elliot Morley: A summary of the total spend by DEFRA (and prior to 2001–02 MAFF) for horticultural research and development projects, including potatoes, is given in the table. Annual spends are given in £ millions.
	
		£ million 
		
			  Annual spends 
		
		
			 1992–93 3.7 
			 1993–94 4.2 
			 1994–95 13.4 
			 1995–96 13.3 
			 1996–97 13.4 
			 1997–98 12.3 
			 1998–99 12.1 
			 1999–2000 11.7 
			 2000–01 11.5 
			 2001–02(70) 11.4 
		
	
	(70) provisional
	Details of current projects can be found on the DEFRA website at www.defra.gov.uk/research.
	In addition, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland support research projects on horticulture. The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council provides funding for underpinning research relevant to horticulture.

Bovine TB

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress in her Department's bovine TB cattle testing programme; when she expects the TB testing programme to be brought up to date; and how many of (a) her Department's staff and (b) the State Veterinary Service are employed directly in the testing programme.

Elliot Morley: The vast majority of TB testing is carried out on behalf of the State Veterinary Service (SVS) by private vets from local large animal practices, who work for the SVS as local veterinary inspectors (LVIs). Nearly 4,000 are approved to carry out this testing. For February 2002 nearly 3,000 hours of veterinary and technical time was spent on TB testing within the SVS and just over 11,500 hours of administrative time.
	We cannot yet say when the backlog of overdue TB tests will be cleared.

Egg Production

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she next intends to meet representatives of the British Egg Industry Council to discuss the future viability of the UK egg production industry.

Elliot Morley: I will next be meeting representatives of the British Egg Industry Council on 15 April 2002

Egg Production

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of total domestic egg sales is achieved through (a) retail, (b) catering and (c) processing/manufacturing; what percentage of total egg sales volume was organic; and what percentage of total UK egg production by volume was (i) cage, (ii) barn and (iii) free range in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Elliot Morley: Official figures are not available at the level of detail requested.
	The provisional figure for UK production of eggs for human consumption in 2001 was 803 million dozen; of which 17 per cent. were bought by UK egg processors for breaking; around 50 per cent. were sold through retailers (based on National Food survey estimates for 2000); with the remainder to other processing, i.e. hard boiling, manufacturing, catering and other.
	Official figures are not available on the percentage of total organic egg sales by volume. However, using the farmgate value of organic eggs in 1999–2000 from the Soil Association Organic Food and Farming Report, the percentage of egg sales by value is estimated to be about 5 per cent.
	In 2001 UK egg production by volume was split as follows:
	laying cages—72 per cent.
	barn—5 per cent.
	free range—23 per cent.
	The methodology used to calculate this split by production system is being updated with a view to publishing revised figures in the Summer.

Poultry

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she next intends to meet representatives of the British Poultry Council to discuss levels of imports of turkey meat from competitor nations; what assessment she has made of domestic market conditions for domestic turkey producers; and if she will make a statement on the health and hygiene standards of turkey meat imported into the United Kingdom.

Elliot Morley: There are currently no plans to meet the British Poultry Council to discuss this specific issue, although there has been frequent contact with officials on this and other issues.
	The EU turkey market has been oversupplied for a number of years and the UK industry is to be congratulated on its past voluntary efforts to improve the market situation by reducing production. It is also pleasing to see that the traditional farm fresh turkey market enjoyed a prosperous 2001, with most birds selling out by Christmas. A surge in production in a number of member states has recently depressed prices throughout the EU, but Italian and French producers have voluntarily destroyed large numbers of hatching eggs in order to help bring the market back into better balance.
	All consignments of fresh poultrymeat imported into the UK from other EU member states must have been produced in accordance with the harmonised Community rules laid down in Council Directive 71/118/EEC (as amended). Imports from third countries must have been produced to standards at least equivalent to those in the Directive. Among other things, this Directive sets out the licensing, structural and veterinary supervision requirements to be applied in abattoirs, cutting plants and cold stores.
	Ensuring that all member states comply with their Community obligations in properly implementing and applying the Directive is the responsibility of the European Commission, whose Food and Veterinary Office carries out regular programmes of inspection visits to all member states. The Food and Veterinary Office are also responsible for carrying out inspections in the third countries from which fresh meat is imported into the Community.
	All consignments of fresh poultrymeat imported from third countries are subject to veterinary inspection on entering the EU to ensure that conditions of import have been complied with and to ensure that they have remained in a satisfactory condition during transport. In line with Community rules, random spot checks at destination may be carried out on consignments of fresh meat imported into the UK from other EU member states.

Poultry

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the (a) economic and (b) welfare consequences of the use of levels of carbon dioxide exceeding 30 per cent. concentration of the gas mixture for poultry gassing.

Elliot Morley: The Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 (WASK) limit the concentration of carbon dioxide in gas mixtures to a maximum of 30 per cent. The limit was based on behavioural research studies in which the aversiveness to poultry of various concentrations of carbon dioxide was investigated. The research indicated that the 30 per cent. limit provided the best balance between reduced aversiveness to birds while guaranteeing a rapid loss of brain function. Given that, on welfare grounds, the concentration of carbon dioxide was limited to 30 per cent. no economic assessment of higher concentrations has been made.
	However, recent developments in the industry have shown that gas mixtures comprising nitrogen and reduced levels of carbon dioxide produce economic benefits both in terms of reduced operating costs and reduced maturation times. In addition these mixtures are less aversive to birds.
	Detailed neurophysiological work is currently under way to assess the effects on poultry of a variety of gas mixtures (including carbon dioxide) at varying concentrations.

North Eastern Fisheries Committee

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria her Department uses in making appointments to the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee; if she will list (a) the membership of the North Eastern Fisheries Committee and (b) the nature of the members' fishing activities; what assessment she has made of the composition of committee membership; and if she will make a statement on the role of the North Eastern Fisheries Committee chairman in making appointments to the committee.

Elliot Morley: The Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 requires members appointed by the Secretary of State to local government Sea Fisheries Committees to be acquainted with the needs and opinions of local fishing interests, or have knowledge of or expertise in, marine environmental matters. These members are expected to represent in a balanced way all the local fishing and marine environmental interests in the waters of the committee districts.
	Half the members on each Sea Fisheries Committee are appointed by its constituent local councils; the remainder are appointed by this Department or by the National Assembly for Wales. One member is appointed to each committee by the Environment Agency.
	For the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee, the 17 members appointed by the Secretary of State for a four year term commencing June 2001 are: Dr. C. Frid, Mr. D. Heselton, Mr. D. Johnson, Mr. T. Smith, Mr. G. Traves, Mr. M. Emmerson, Mr. G. Collins, Mr. D. Horsley, Mr. F. Nesbitt, Mr. I. Rowe, Mr. J. Wilkinson, Mr. A. Pockley, Mr. C. Easton, Mr. J. Johnson, Mr. J. Linstead, Mr. J. Whitton and Mr. N. Proctor. Between them, these members have many years experience of trawling, gill netting, longlining, salmon netting, shellfish fishing, sea angling, boat chartering and marine ecology and biology. The chairman of the committee has no active involvement in making the Secretary of State's appointments to the committee.

State Veterinary Service

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Scotland Office on the devolution of powers and functions of the State Veterinary Service to the control of the Scottish Executive.

Elliot Morley: There have been no such discussions. Responsibility for animal health is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the relationship between the State Veterinary Service and Scottish Ministers is outlined in the concordat with the Scottish Executive.

Wind Speeds

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent changes have taken place in respect of recording wind speeds and directions at the horticultural research station at Efford; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Horticulture Research International informs me that it had been providing the Meteorology Office with wind speed measurements using cup-counter anemometers at its Efford site. The Meteorology Office has now discontinued the use of data from low-level counters of the type used by HRI. We understand that this change has been discussed with HRI who have agreed.

New Forest

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many representations have been received regarding the inclusion of (a) Fordingbridge and (b) Milford on Sea within the designated boundary for the proposed New Forest national park.

Alun Michael: As at 26 March, 46 representations have been received regarding the inclusion of Fordingbridge within the boundary of the proposed New Forest national park and 54 on the inclusion of Milford on Sea.

New Forest

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her procedure and timetable for designating the New Forest as a national park.

Alun Michael: The New Forest National Park (Designation) Order 2002 was submitted by the Countryside Agency to the Secretary of State in late February and was on deposit for public comment until 25 March. The objections and representations received are being considered and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will decide shortly whether or not to confirm the Order or to call a public inquiry. If the Order were confirmed, it would take about a year to establish a national park authority. If a public inquiry were called, this would start in the autumn. Depending on the length of the inquiry, it could be 2004 before the Order was confirmed and 2005 before a national park authority was set up.

New Forest

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to designate the New Forest as access land within the terms of the provisions of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: I understand that the Countryside Agency expects to issue a draft map of open country and registered common land for the south of England, including the New Forest, later this year. Following consultation on the draft map, the agency will issue provisional and then conclusive maps. Part of the New Forest will be land to which there is an existing right of access under section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925: the new right under the 2000 Act will not apply to such land. The Forestry Commission has already announced its intention in principle to dedicate the national forestry estate under section 16 of the 2000 Act.

Laying Hens

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if egg producers will be permitted to beak trim chickens intended for laying up to a maximum of 10 days of age, where carried out by qualified staff.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 26 March 2002
	Council Directive 99/74/EC prohibits all mutilation but permits member states to authorise beak trimming provided it is carried out by qualified staff on chickens that are less than 10 days old and intended for laying. It is intended that the directive will be implemented in England without being added to in any way. An implementing SI will shortly be presented to Parliament.

Animal Health

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are taking to develop an animal health strategy; and to what extent this strategy is based on (a) the promotion of health and (b) the treatment and prevention of disease.

Elliot Morley: Work is already in hand to develop some aspects of an animal health strategy. In particular work on a strategy for veterinary surveillance was interrupted by the FMD epidemic, but has now been resumed; a draft strategy for surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in animals was published on 12 February; a programme of work to tackle illegal imports is being developed; plans for the improvement of cattle tracing systems and for identification and tracing of other livestock are being developed; and the Government are already consulting on changes to the rules on animal welfare. The Government have commissioned Royal Society and Lessons Learned inquiries into the FMD epidemic which will inform the animal health strategy when they are available later this year.
	The strategy will be developed in conjunction with stakeholders, as it will include the promotion of biosecurity measures which are conducive to good health and the prevention of animal disease.
	Treatment of animal disease will generally remain a matter for the individual choice of animal owners and their veterinary surgeons, except where the disease is subject to statutory control.

Water Pollution

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of pesticide residues found in fresh water in the UK which comes from (a) agrochemicals used in farming and (b) products used by organic farmers to control insect pests.

Elliot Morley: The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring ground and surface waters for pesticides in England and Wales. A summary of the results is published by the agency; the most recent publication is called 'Pesticides 2000'. The 180 different pesticide active substances monitored do not include any insecticides used by organic farmers. Even if these compounds were to be included in the monitoring programme, most are also used in conventional farming and it would be impossible to identify whether a particular finding in water arose from a particular pattern of farming.

Agricultural Employees

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many agricultural employees there are per hectare on (a) organic and (b) non-organic farmland.

Elliot Morley: While the Farm Business Survey does collect limited data on organic farmland, the sample size for organic farms is too small to enable reliable comparisons with non-organic farmland to be made.

Organic Food

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of baby food consumed in the UK was organically produced in (a) 1990, (b) 1995 and (c) 2000.

Elliot Morley: Information published in the MINTEL report—Baby Food and Drinks—October 2000 is as follows:
	
		UK retail sales of organic baby food as a percentage of total baby food and drink market
		
			 Year Percentage 
		
		
			 1995 1.6 
			 1996 2.3 
			 1997 2.7 
			 1998 3.4 
			 1999 7.5 
			 2000(71) 10.6 
		
	
	(71) Estimate

Organic Food

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of organic food sold in the UK in (a) 1987, (b) 1992, (c) 1997 and (d) 2002 was grown in the UK.

Elliot Morley: Official figures on the split between organic and non-organic food produced in the UK are not available.
	However, the following table based on estimates produced by the Soil Association in their Organic Food and Farming Report 2001, shows the proportion of organic sales that are produced in the UK.
	
		
			  Percentage of organic sales produced in the UK 
		
		
			 Dairy products 65 
			 Meat 55 
			 Fruit and vegetables 15 
			 Cereals(72) 20 
			 Eggs 90 
		
	
	(72) And baked products.

Organic Food

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to (a) collect organic food market and production data and (b) track developments in the organic market.

Elliot Morley: The forthcoming June Agricultural Census will identify farms with organic production or in conversion to organic status. There are also plans to improve the collection of organic data within the Farm Business Survey. Information from other organisations, including the Soil Association, will continue to be used to monitor developments in the organic sector. Further developments on the collection of organic data by the Department will be considered as part of our statistical planning process, but will need to balance the requirements for the information with the additional burdens imposed on survey respondents.

Organic Food

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total value was of the organic retail market in the UK in (a) 1987, (b) 1992, (c) 1997 and (d) 2002.

Elliot Morley: Information is not available for earlier years. It is estimated that the retail value of the UK organic food market was of the order of £100 million in 1993–94, £200 million in 1996–97 and £800 million in 2000–01.

Pesticide Residues

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether multiple pesticide residues on food produced with agro-chemicals are covered by testing procedures; and what steps the Government are taking to ensure that foods possibly containing such multiple residues are safe for consumers.

Elliot Morley: The Government's annual programme of residues testing in food generates results for about 90,000 pesticide/commodity food combinations. This includes an assessment of the number of multi-residues that may be present.
	The potential health implications of multi-residues in food has been examined by The Advisory Committee on Pesticides in the past. The Committee concluded (on the basis of the evidence available at the time) that at the very low levels at which they occur, pesticide residues were unlikely to act synergistically. However, the issue remains under review and the Food Standards Agency has asked the Committee on Toxicity of chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) to look again at this issue sometimes known as the 'cocktail effect'. A working group of the COT (known as the Working Group on Risk Assessment of Mixtures of Pesticides (WIGRAMP) is working on this and has recently published its draft findings.
	We will be working closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) and the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) to take forward the COT's recommendations as soon as they are finalised.

Soil Strategy Report

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the soil strategy report being prepared by her Department will recognise the role played by soil organisms in relation to (a) the ability of soil to retain moisture and carbon, (b) delivering nutrients to plants and (c) preventing soil erosion.

Elliot Morley: In the draft "Soil Strategy for England", issued for public consultation last year, we said that greater understanding of the functioning of soil biological processes was a priority and that we recognised the need to take these more fully into account. DEFRA is already funding research relevant to this. Other bodies, including the Natural Environment Research Council, are also carrying out research into soil biodiversity.
	Our view remains unchanged that soil organisms play a key role in relation to retention of moisture and carbon, delivering nutrients and the avoidance of soil erosion, and thus a key role in the sustainable use of soil.
	We expect to make an announcement later in the spring on how we plan to develop policies on the sustainable use of soil in England.

Food Production

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of food produced in the UK was sold to British consumers in (a) 1997 and (b) 2001.

Elliot Morley: The proportion of food produced in the UK and sold to British consumers was around 87 per cent. in both 1997 and 2001.
	Source:
	DEFRA self sufficiency calculation.

Organic Farming

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of organic land area is used in the production of (a) arable crops, (b) sheep, (c) beef and (d) dairy products.

Elliot Morley: The information is not available in the form requested. However it is estimated that around 80 per cent. of the organic area in the UK (fully organic land and land in conversion) is permanent pasture and rough grazing and around 8 per cent. is in arable production. The remainder of the area is taken up with temporary grass, horticulture and woodland.

Organic Farming

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many acres of land was organic or in conversion to organic in the UK in (a) 1985, (b) 1990, (c) 1995 and (d) 2000.

Elliot Morley: The estimated area of organic land and land in conversion in these years is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Hectares 
		
		
			 1985 6,000 
			 1990 14,000 
			 1995 45,185 
			 2000 527,323

Live Animals (Transport)

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when Ministers from her Department last raised EU obstacles to the ban of live exports and their replacement by meat exports in the Council of Ministers; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with her European counterparts on the abolition of long distance transportation of live farm animals throughout the European Union.

Elliot Morley: The Government have been consistent in its preference for meat to be exported rather than live animals for slaughter. Two judgments of the European Court of Justice have made it clear that the UK does not have the legal powers to introduce a unilateral ban on live exports. The Government have continued to press for better enforcement and stronger rules on the welfare of animals during transport. In the June 2001 Agriculture Council my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, supported a unanimous resolution that specifically invited the Commission to report on options for reducing long distance transport of animals for slaughter. In the November 2001 Agriculture Council my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, called on the Commission to make their promised proposals on the protection of animals during transport.

Primate Imports

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many wild caught non-human primates were imported into the United Kingdom in the last five years; for what purposes; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: Imports of non-human primates are controlled under the European Commission Regulation dealing with the control in trade in endangered species. Our records show that 547 wild caught non-human primates were imported into the UK between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2001.
	The purposes of the imports were categorised as follows:
	247 breeding;
	2 personal;
	266 commercial;
	32 zoological collections.

Emissions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how far below 1990 levels (a) greenhouse gas and (b) carbon dioxide emissions were in percentage terms in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.

Michael Meacher: In 2000, total emissions of the 'basket' of six greenhouse gases, weighted by global warming potential, were 13 per cent. below 1990 levels. Estimates of greenhouse gas emissions in 2001 are not yet available. These figures confirm that the UK has met, and significantly exceeded, its commitment under the Framework Convention on Climate Change that was agreed at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to return its emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000.
	Carbon dioxide emissions in 2000 were 7.5 per cent. below 1990 levels. Provisional estimates suggest that in 2001 carbon dioxide emissions were 6 per cent. below 1990 levels. Final estimates for 2001 are not yet available. The increases in 2000 and 2001 were caused by the increased amount of coal used in electricity generation in those years and colder weather in the winter months.

Emissions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how far below (a) 1980 and (b) 1990 levels SO 2 emissions were in percentage terms in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2001.

Michael Meacher: Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions fell by 76 per cent. between 1980 and 2000, and by 69 per cent. between 1990 and 2000. Estimates of SO 2 > emissions in 2001 are not yet available.

Nitrate Pollution

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate she has made of the percentage of nitrate pollution in rivers which arises from discharges by sewage treatment plants.

Michael Meacher: The Environment Agency's 2001 publication "Rivers and Estuaries—a decade of improvement" provides information on general trends in nitrate levels of rivers in England and Wales. Although this information does not identify the source of the nitrates, the Agency's assessment was that in 2000 some 32 per cent. of rivers had high average concentrations of nitrate (greater than 30mg/l), and about 50 per cent. moderate or high average concentrations (greater than 20mg/l). It is considered that the average nitrate contribution from sewage treatment works is likely to be less than 20 per cent., and in most cases less than 10 per cent. However, where relatively large works, such as Altrincham and Sale, discharge to small rivers and provide a significant proportion of their flow, the nitrate contribution is likely to be higher than 20 per cent. immediately downstream of the discharge.
	Where surface freshwaters are used for the abstraction of drinking water the Environment Agency has on-going monitoring at numerous points. If sampling confirms the presence, or likelihood, of more than the permitted concentration of nitrates, and the source of the nitrates is sewage treatment works, then we identify the stretch of river as a Sensitive Area (Nitrate) under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations, and reduce the amount of nitrates in the discharge from qualifying works.
	On 5 March 2002 I announced the identification of stretches of the rivers Chelmer, Leam, Stour and Wissey as Sensitive Areas (Nitrate), and the requirement for two water companies to reduce the nitrate in discharges from six sewage treatment works by 2004.

Ozone Depletion

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the environmental effects which will follow from the use of ozone depleting substances for the eight year period allowed under the EU Regulations on Ozone Depleting Substances.

Michael Meacher: Under EU regulation number 2037–2000, the production and use of virgin ozone depleting HCFCs is due to be prohibited in Europe by 2010. In the interim 8-year period, we anticipate that there will be a maximum HCFC emission of 27 thousand ODP (ozone depleting potential) Tonnes in Europe. This is a small figure in comparison to peak emissions of CFCs during the 1980s, which reached a maximum of 435 thousand ODP Tonnes per year, and thus makes a very small addition to the current atmospheric chlorine burden. The additional effect on ozone depletion is likely to be very small relative to other factors which influence the stratosphere. HCFCs have a much smaller impact on ozone depletion than CFCs, which they replace in many applications, and HCFC use until 2010 has allowed a more rapid move away from reliance on CFCs.

Bushmeat

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what response her Department has made to the report of Evan Bowen-Jones, David Brown and Elizabeth Robinson entitled "Bushmeat—a Pilot Study".

Michael Meacher: Evan Bowen-Jones, David Brown and Elizabeth Robinson submitted their final report on the Government's research project, "Bushmeat—A Pilot Study", in January 2002. The report, entitled "Assessment of the Solution-orientated research needed to promote a more sustainable Bushmeat Trade in Central and West Africa", examines the trade in terms of institutions, policies, biodiversity and livelihoods and sets out principles for further action in promoting more sustainability.
	The report is an extremely thorough and useful piece of work. Arrangements have been made for its publication on the Department's website and on the UK's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) website, as well as on that of the Overseas Development Institute. We have drawn it to the attention of key stakeholders—including UNEP's Great Ape Survival Project—through the UK Tropical Forest Forum's Bushmeat Working Group, encouraging them to use it as the basis for further targeted work. We shall also be presenting it to the next meeting of the CITES Bushmeat Working Group later this year, to obtain the maximum engagement of African range states in identifying subsequent actions and taking them forward.

Bushmeat

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what actions her Department proposes to tackle the trade in bushmeat;
	(2)  what plans she has to raise the subject of the trade in bushmeat internationally.

Elliot Morley: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 15 January 2002, Official Report, column 272.
	We have also now published our Action Plan for combating the illegal trade in all meat and animal products, including those commonly referred to as "bushmeat". High priority actions include enhanced co-operation for effective inter-agency enforcement, strengthened intelligence to counter smuggling, increased powers to search for illicit produce and increased public awareness through more publicity.
	The Action Plan has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Abandoned Cars

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned cars local authorities have had to remove each year since 1997.

Michael Meacher: Information on the number of abandoned vehicles removed by local authorities was collected for the first time in the Department's 2000–01 Municipal Waste Management Survey which should be published in July 2002.

Hazardous Waste (Shoreham Harbour)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 272W, on hazardous waste, on what date the shipment of hazardous waste passed through Shoreham Harbour; and what safety measures were taken.

Michael Meacher: The Environment Agency area office report that the waste was offloaded at the port of Shoreham on 27 February 2002.
	Safety measures for the carriage of dangerous goods are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive within the UK and the port authority at the point of entry into the UK. The port authority, once informed of the nature of a cargo, will enforce any special measures they deem necessary.
	In this case, the Environment Agency local office report that two of their officers visited the port on 27 February 2002 to inspect the waste, and were satisfied that the waste was packaged appropriately. They further report that the waste arrived at its destination facility within 24 hours of being inspected.

Waste Disposal

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase provision to local authorities to help combat (a) fly-tipping and (b) abandoned cars.

Michael Meacher: The financial pressures on local authorities generated by waste management, including abandoned cars and fly-tipping, will be considered in the course of the current spending review (SR2002).
	Local authorities' waste management services are funded through council tax revenue and revenue support from Government via the Environmental Protection and Cultural Services (EPCS) block of funding. The spending review 2000 announced the framework for the Government's support to local authorities for the next three years up to 2003–04. This included an annual increase in the revenue support to local authorities for EPCS. By 2003–04 this support will have risen by £1.1 billion over the 2000–01 provision. Consistent with the general local authority financial framework, it is for individual local authorities to decide the proportion of their budget that should be directed to waste management work and what proportion of spending on waste management should go towards areas of work such as combating fly-tipping and abandoned cars.

Waste Disposal

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) individuals and (b) companies since 1997 have been prosecuted for illegal fly-tipping; and if she will make a statement as to the range of penalties imposed.

Michael Meacher: Both local authorities and the Environment Agency may prosecute for fly tipping offences. Between 1996 and 2001 the Environment Agency recorded prosecutions for waste offences generally and on a financial year basis. Therefore, this information did not distinguish fly tipping offences from other waste offences. From 2001, data is collected on a calendar year basis and records whether an incident involves the unlawful deposit of waste (breach of section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990), and whether an individual or company is involved. From December 2001 the data now specifically records whether an incident involves fly tipping. The information is as follows:
	
		
			   Number of prosecutions 
		
		
			  Prosecutions for general waste offences 
			 1996–97 241 
			 1997–98 345 
			 1998–99 367 
			 1999–2000 342 
			 2000–01 439 
			   
			  Prosecutions under section 33 (1)(a) 
			 2001 (73)234 
		
	
	(73) 196 individuals and 38 companies
	No central register is kept of local authorities' prosecutions.

Waste Disposal

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether liquid animal carcases were dumped in the Irish Sea from 1 May 2001 to 28 February 2002; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Liquid animal carcases have never been dumped in the Irish Sea but I can confirm that between 1 May 2001 and 10 December 2001, the leachate from the Watchtree (Great Orton) mass burial site was discharged via a long sea outfall at Workington, into the Irish Sea.
	Between 8 April and 15 June, the leachate (including body fluids, the breakdown products of animal carcases and any rainfall or surface water ingress into the pits) was pH adjusted for FMD virus control purposes. The Department installed a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) treatment plant on the site during June and from 15 June all leachate underwent additional primary treatment in the DAF plant before being tankered to Workington. On 2 October the pH adjustment ceased and on 10 December all use of the long sea outfall was stopped.
	Since the 10 December, leachate has been tankered off site and disposed of at suitably licensed sites.

Air Pollution

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department will implement EU requirements to reduce emissions of air pollutants from industrial plant and power stations.

Michael Meacher: Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control addresses emissions to all environments from a wide range of industrial plant, including power stations. It is being implemented through the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 (SI 1973). Any industrial installation covered by these Regulations which is newly constructed or substantially changed needs a permit from the Environment Agency or, for some smaller installations, from the relevant local authority. These permits will contain pollutant emission limits and other conditions concerning the operation of the installation. Operators of installations which were in existence before 31 October 1999 have to apply for permits according to a timetable for each of the main industrial sectors. This timetable, laid down in Schedule 3 to the Regulations, extends overall to March 2007. Existing power stations, which generally fall into the 'combustion' sector, have until 31 March 2006 to make permit applications under these Regulations.
	Directive 1999/13/EC on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations is being implemented by Directions to the Environment Agency, in respect of some plants. The Department expects to consult on draft implementation proposals for other plants later in the year.
	Directives 2000/69/EC relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air, 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste, 2001/80/EC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants, 2001/81/EC on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants, and 2002/3/EC relating to ozone in ambient air have not yet been transposed. The Department expects to consult on draft implementation proposals later in the year.

Emissions (Sellafield)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received from the Government of Norway regarding emissions from Sellafield.

Michael Meacher: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs met the Norwegian Environment Minister, Borge Brende in December 2001. They discussed a number of issues, including Norway's concerns about radioactive discharges from Sellafield. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also exchanged letters with Mr. Brende following that meeting. I also met Mr. Brende immediately prior to the fifth North Sea Conference of Ministers in Bergen on 20 March. A number of issues were discussed at that meeting and Mr. Brende re-iterated his concerns about Sellafield discharges, especially those of technetium-99. In January of this year I also discussed Sellafield with members of the Standing Committee on Energy and Environment of the Norwegian Storting (Parliament).

Aggregates Levy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has made to the Chancellor on the environmental impact of the aggregates levy.

Michael Meacher: We fully support the aims and objectives of the Aggregates Levy and have had no call to make any representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on its environmental impacts.

Aircraft Hazards (Birds)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what plans she has to amend the Game Act 1831 to enable aircraft operators to deal with game birds posing a threat to aircraft;
	(2)  what action is available to the management of Shoreham Airport to deal with game birds posing a hazard to aircraft movements during the closed season;
	(3)  what directions she has issued to regional airports to deal with game birds in the closed season.

Alun Michael: DEFRA has received correspondence from Shoreham Airport about the occasional incursion of pheasants and roe deer into the airport perimeter.
	A DEFRA Senior Wildlife Adviser has carried out a site inspection at Shoreham Airport to quantify and provide advice. An internal report is also being prepared for consideration by Ministers and I will write to the hon. Member responding in full to his questions as soon as that report has been considered.

Departmental Staff

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials her Department employs at its office in Worcestershire; and what functions they perform.

Elliot Morley: At the office in Worcestershire, DEFRA currently employs 466 officials. The majority of these staff work either for the State Veterinary Service (dealing with animal welfare, disease control and central support functions) or for the Rural Development Service (dealing with the implementation and delivery of the England Rural Development Programme).

EU Directives

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 942W, on EU directives, what sources of information she uses regarding implementation and enforcement in other member states.

Elliot Morley: Information may be obtained from bilateral contacts with other member states, usually through their embassies here or our embassies there, or from UK involvement in EU inspection visits which take place in certain sectors.

Research Funding

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what level of funding her Department intends allocating to support research to help industry take advantage of new technology and higher safety, environmental and other standards of production.

Elliot Morley: DEFRA jointly funds with industry research under the LINK banner; Government sponsors provide up to half the costs. LINK aims to enhance the competitiveness of UK industry and the quality of life through support for managed programmes of pre-competitive research and development. Funding for LINK is won in a competitive process so it is not possible to be precise about the allocation for 2002–03, however it is likely to be in excess of £5 million.

Rural Policy

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department intends to ensure that the policies of Government are rural-proofed.

Alun Michael: The Rural White Paper "Our countryside: the future", published in November 2000 (Cm 4909), in Chapter 13, set out the proposed measures which the Government have now put in place, to ensure that all its domestic policies in England are rural-proofed. In summary these are:
	a requirement on Departments to rural-proof all new policies—that is, to ensure that they have taken proper account of the impact on people living in rural areas—and to report annually on how they have done this;
	development by the Countryside Agency of a rural-proofing checklist, sent to all Departments in April 2001, to help them take account of the rural dimension in developing policy;
	publication of an annual report by the Countryside Agency on how effectively rural-proofing has been implemented across Government; the first of the Agency's reports will be published shortly.
	The establishment of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with responsibility for all aspects of rural policy, has given fresh impetus and focus to rural-proofing, reinforced by the establishment of a Cabinet sub-committee on rural renewal, and the representation of DEFRA in each of the Government offices for the regions (except London). Both I and Ewen Cameron—the Chairman of the Countryside Agency, whom the Prime Minister also appointed as Rural Advocate—have met ministerial colleagues in all the Departments concerned over the past few months to discuss how rural-proofing is being implemented and to offer our assistance in making it fully effective across Government.

Rural Policy

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets are set by her Department for the achievements of rural policy.

Alun Michael: The Department accepted responsibility for the Interim Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets previously assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Of the PSA targets, four cover the environment, rural development, countryside, wildlife and sustainable development responsibilities. These PSA targets are set out on the Department's website at http://defraweb/corporate/ busplan/01psa.htm
	Future PSA rural targets arising as a result of SR2002 will be published on the DEFRA website in due course.
	More specific rural policy targets and commitments are set out in the Government's Rural White Paper published in November 2000, setting out the Government's vision for a living, working, protected and vibrant countryside in which everyone can enjoy a high quality of life.

Rural Policy

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which proposals in the rural White Paper have been implemented.

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd) on 12 December 2001, Official Report, column 920W. This announced publication of "England's Rural Future" which included a progress report on implementing the rural White Paper. This demonstrated that considerable progress had been made during the first year despite the massive diversion of effort and resources required to deal with foot and mouth disease. The same document also set out the Government's efforts to help rural recovery and our response to the reports of the rural task force and Lord Haskins. However the rural White Paper set out a long-term approach to meeting the needs of individuals, families and communities in rural areas and we continue to work towards the achievement of all the White Paper's long term goals.
	The rural White Paper Implementation Plan which is on the Department's website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/ wildlife-countryside/index.htm shows how all the commitments made in the White Paper are being taken forward. An updated version will be available shortly.

Efficiency

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what efficiency measures have been achieved by her Department since its establishment.

Elliot Morley: Since DEFRA's creation in June 2001, all Directorates have been required to develop efficiency targets. Their achievement will be monitored from 2002–03.

Publications

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of printing and distributing the publication "Working for the Essentials of Life"; and what is the print run.

Elliot Morley: DEFRA's work affects the lives of everyone and the activities and policies of many other Departments, businesses and community groups. It is important that the Department establishes and maintains high quality dialogue and communications with all whose who we deal with. "Working for the Essentials of Life" attempts to describe in accessible language and using professional presentation and design our work and how it affects others. The costs of printing and distributing 15,000 copies equates to approximately £2.96 per copy, a cost which is justified if we communicate more effectively and clearly with people.

Biosecurity

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has implemented to increase biosecurity.

Elliot Morley: The Department has responsibility for a range of biosecurity issues. Throughout the foot and mouth outbreak, the Department has imposed strict animal health biosecurity measures, based on expert veterinary advice, to contain and eradicate the disease. Improvements in biosecurity within the livestock sector were achieved through the rules on the movement of animals and the arrangements for the cleansing and disinfection of vehicles, premises and equipment. Some of these conditions have been amended as the disease situation has improved. We will be carefully considering how animal disease control precautions should be developed in the future in the light of reports from the independent FMD inquiries.
	Our approach to improved animal health biosecurity includes steps to reduce disease risks that might be linked to illegal imports of animal products, and a copy of the Government's action plan has been placed in both Libraries of the House.
	We are also developing plans to encourage the wider livestock industry and those involved in rural activities to adopt improved standards of biosecurity to the general benefit of animal health in our national flocks and herds.
	Biosecurity measures to protect plants from imported pests and diseases are based on legislation which implements the EC Plant Health Directive. Following risk assessments carried out by DEFRA the Plant Health Directive is currently being amended to increase the range of imported plant produce which is subject to phytosanitary certification from the country of origin. Proposals for further changes to the Directive would permit a more risk-targeted approach that has long been advocated by the UK.
	DEFRA's Plant Health and Seeds Inspectors enforce plant health import controls in England and Wales in collaboration with HM Customs. They aim to inspect all commercial imports of plants from non-EC countries and a proportion, according to risk, of imported consignments of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Trials are under way of a computer link with Customs systems to enable more effective control and inspection of relevant consignments. Further information is available on the plant health pages of the Department's website http://defraweb/ planth.ph.htm.
	Biosecurity issues also include the problems caused by non-native species which may become established in this country. Some non-native species can become invasive and cause serious problems by altering native ecosystems and threatening native species, and also by causing considerable economic damage, for example to forestry or agriculture. Invasive non-native species have been identified as one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. The Government are currently undertaking a fundamental review of policy on invasive non-native species, with industry and conservation bodies, considering the causes of, and problems arising from, the introduction and spread of non-native species.

DEFRA Management Board

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the CVs of the non-executive members of the DEFRA management board.

Elliot Morley: DEFRA's management board includes three non-executive members, Elizabeth Ransom and Alison Huxtable, both with private sector backgrounds, and Richard Wakeford, Chief Executive of the Countryside Agency. Their biographical details are as follows:
	Alison Huxtable was formerly a member of the Amerada Hess senior management team for the UK. She was responsible for developing the people, structure and strategies of six distinct areas of professional service provision. She was also instrumental in the Amerada Hess change management programme. She was called to the Bar in 1983, and is a Justice of the Peace in Devon. She was appointed as a non-executive member of the MAFF management board in September 2000.
	Elizabeth Ransom was a consultant with KPMG for 15 years, nine years of which as a partner. She led KPMG's work in central Government, focusing on improving performance in Government Departments and Agencies. The Departments she was involved with include the Ministry of Defence, DfEE, FCO and MAFF. She therefore has wide experience of managing change in public services. She was appointed as a non-executive member of the MAFF management board in September 2000.
	Richard Wakeford became Chief Executive of the Countryside Agency at its formation in April 1999 and was previously Chief Executive of the Countryside Commission from 1996. Prior to this he worked in the Cabinet Office, where he dealt with economic and environmental affairs across Government. Before that in the Department of the Environment, he developed a range of land use planning policies and implemented the 'plan-led', system. He edited the land use and transport chapters of the 1994 UK Sustainable Development strategy, building on his earlier work on the team which prepared this country's first environment White Paper "This Common Inheritance" in 1990. He was appointed a non-executive member of the management board of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in September 2001 and is a member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission.

Market Towns

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Lancashire market towns have received grants for regeneration under the new deal for market towns, giving the (a) grant amount and (b) reason of the grant; and if she will list the market towns which can not bid for the grant in Lancashire.

Alun Michael: There are five towns in Lancashire in the market towns initiative—Barnoldswick, Padiham, Clitheroe, Garstang and Carnforth. There is no list of towns which cannot bid provided they meet the population size criteria of between 2,000 and 20,000.
	The market town initiative is being taken forward on DEFRA's behalf by the regional development agencies, working with the Countryside Agency and local partners and using the £37 million of Government funding announced in the Rural White Paper. We hope that match funding will raise the resources available to market towns through the initiative to some £100 million. The process at a local level of creating a strong local partnership is important in itself. Most towns are still at the stage of community consultation prior to agreeing action plans, and approval of project grants will come at the next stage.

Agricultural Shows

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance she has issued on a consistent approach by officials across the country to the implementation of the 21-day standstill rule in respect of attendance of animals at agricultural shows in the summer of 2003.

Elliot Morley: Show animals are exempted from the 20-day standstill rule if they meet certain conditions. The key requirements are that the animals must be individually identified and have been kept in and returned to DEFRA approved isolation facilities on their farm of origin. The Department has issued operational instructions to our veterinary staff regarding these arrangements. The conditions for approving on farm isolation units are available on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/movements/cattle/ guidance/ei31.pdf.

Fallen Stock

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what analysis she has made of the proportions of fallen stock which are (a) centrally buried, (b) centrally burned, (c) buried on the farm, (d) burned on the farm and (e) otherwise disposed of, in respect of (i) cattle and (ii) sheep on average over the last five years.

Elliot Morley: The central burial or burning of fallen stock is not permitted except in emergency situations such as the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001. We do not collect information on the routine disposal of fallen stock, but the State Veterinary Service carried out small scale surveys in the years 1998–2000. The results (which may not be representative) suggest that the following proportions of fallen cattle and sheep were buried or burned on farm. The remainder were disposed of by alternative routes such as incineration or disposal to a knacker's yard or hunt kennel.
	
		Percentage 
		
			   1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Cattle buried on farm 17 22 21 
			 Cattle burned on farm 1 1 4 
			 Sheep and goats buried on farm 60 76 65 
			 Sheep and goats burned on farm 6 1 7

Fallen Stock

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what charges are made to farmers for the disposal of fallen (a) cattle and (b) sheep.

Elliot Morley: To facilitate the UK's programme of surveillance for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, the Government currently pays the full cost of collecting 6,000 fallen sheep per year and all fallen cattle aged over 24 months. Charges for the disposal of other fallen stock are a matter for negotiation between the farmer and the collector. However, we understand that charges made for the disposal of fallen cattle range from zero to £50, and for fallen sheep from zero to £15.

Stranded Cetaceans

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the number of cetaceans stranded on the UK shorelines by species in each of the last 12 months; what percentage of those post mortemed were recorded as bycatch deaths; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Data on the cetaceans reported as stranding in the period January 2001 to December 2001 on a quarterly basis is contained in the table. Figures for the UK for the first three months of 2002 are not yet available, but for England and Wales, during the month of January 994 cetaceans were reported as stranded. Post mortems were carried out on 34 of these cetaceans, 79 per cent. of which were bycaught.
	
		
			   January-March 2001  
			 Species Stranded Post mortemed Percentage bycaught(74) 
		
		
			 Minke Whale 0 0 0 
			 Sei Whale 0 0 0 
			 Humpback Whale 1 1 0 
			 Common Dolphin 57 22 82 
			 Striped Dolphin 3 3 100 
			 Risso's Dolphin 1 1 0 
			 White-sided Dolphin 0 0 0 
			 White-beaked Dolphin 8 0 0 
			 Bottlenose Dolphin 0 0 0 
			 Unidentified Dolphin 16 1 0 
			 Long-finned Pilot Whale 3 0 0 
			 Killer Whale 0 0 0 
			 Harbour Porpoise 50 27 22 
			 Northern Bottlenose Whale 0 0 0 
			 Sowerby's Beaked Whale 0 0 0 
			 Great Sperm Whale 1 0 0 
			 Unidentified Cetacean 14 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			   April-June 2001  
			 Species Stranded Post mortemed Percentage bycaught(74) 
		
		
			 Minke Whale 5 2 0 
			 Sei Whale 0 0 0 
			 Humpback Whale 0 0 0 
			 Common Dolphin 16 2 50 
			 Striped Dolphin 2 2 0 
			 Risso's Dolphin 1 1 0 
			 White-sided Dolphin 1 1 0 
			 White-beaked Dolphin 0 0 0 
			 Bottlenose Dolphin 3 2 0 
			 Unidentified Dolphin 9 0 0 
			 Long-finned Pilot Whale 4 1 0 
			 Killer Whale 0 0 0 
			 Harbour Porpoise 70 31 3 
			 Northern Bottlenose Whale 0 0 0 
			 Sowerby's Beaked Whale 1 1 0 
			 Great Sperm Whale 2 0 0 
			 Unidentified Cetacean 6 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			   July-September 2001  
			 Species Stranded Post mortemed Percentage bycaught(74) 
		
		
			 Minke Whale 4 0 0 
			 Sei Whale 1 0 0 
			 Humpback Whale 1 0 0 
			 Common Dolphin 11 1 0 
			 Striped Dolphin 6 5 0 
			 Risso's Dolphin 3 1 0 
			 White-sided Dolphin 3 3 0 
			 White-beaked Dolphin 3 2 0 
			 Bottlenose Dolphin 3 1 0 
			 Unidentified Dolphin 9 0 0 
			 Long-finned Pilot Whale 6 0 0 
			 Killer Whale 0 0 0 
			 Harbour Porpoise 90 38 13 
			 Northern Bottlenose Whale 1 1 0 
			 Sowerby's Beaked Whale 2 1 0 
			 Great Sperm Whale 1 0 0 
			 Unidentified Cetacean 8 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			   October-December 2001  
			 Species Stranded Post mortemed Percentage bycaught(74) 
		
		
			 Minke Whale 4 0 0 
			 Sei Whale 0 0 0 
			 Humpback Whale 0 0 0 
			 Common Dolphin 15 9 1 
			 Striped Dolphin 1 1 0 
			 Risso's Dolphin 1 0 0 
			 White-sided Dolphin 0 0 0 
			 White-beaked Dolphin 2 2 0 
			 Bottlenose Dolphin 3 0 0 
			 Unidentified Dolphin 13 0 0 
			 Long-finned Pilot Whale 12 2 0 
			 Killer Whale 1 1 0 
			 Harbour Porpoise 45 19 16 
			 Northern Bottlenose Whale 1 0 0 
			 Sowerby's Beaked Whale 0 0 0 
			 Great Sperm Whale 2 0 0 
			 Unidentified Cetacean 2 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			   Total 2001  
			 Species Stranded Post mortemed Percentage bycaught(74) 
		
		
			 Minke Whale 13 2 0 
			 Sei Whale 1 0 0 
			 Humpback Whale 2 1 0 
			 Common Dolphin 99 34 59 
			 Striped Dolphin 12 11 27 
			 Risso's Dolphin 6 3 0 
			 White-sided Dolphin 4 4 0 
			 White-beaked Dolphin 13 4 0 
			 Bottlenose Dolphin 9 3 0 
			 Unidentified Dolphin 47 1 0 
			 Long-finned Pilot Whale 25 3 0 
			 Killer Whale 1 1 0 
			 Harbour Porpoise 255 115 14 
			 Northern Bottlenose Whale 2 1 0 
			 Sowerby's Beaked Whale 3 2 0 
			 Great Sperm Whale 6 0 0 
			 Unidentified Cetacean 30 0 0 
		
	
	(74) Of those animals subject to PM

Fur Farms

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fur farms were licensed in each month from December 2001 to March 2002 inclusive in England; and if she will list their locations by county.

Elliot Morley: During the period 1 December 2001 to March 2002 the following fur farms were licensed in England:
	
		
			 County Number of licensed fur farms 
		
		
			 Hampshire 1 
			 Lancashire 3 
			 Yorkshire 1 
			 Total 5 
		
	
	All these farms are thought to have ceased fur production.

Departmental Responses

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Elliot Morley: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to parliamentary questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Elliot Morley: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 departmental report.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target for reducing the incidence of BSE will be met in 2002.

Elliot Morley: The number of clinically suspect cases of BSE reported in Great Britain continues to decline, and the epidemic has now fallen to levels well below those observed when the disease was first made notifiable in 1988.
	The Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA) target for the control of BSE is:
	"To reduce the annual incidence of BSE to less than 650 cases by 2001 and by 2004 to be on track for fewer than 30 cases by 2006. This reflects a 99 per cent. reduction compared with 1997 when there were 4,312 cases".
	This target is based on confirmed, clinical cases. The actual figure for 2001 is likely to be around 780 confirmed BSE cases in cattle presented as clinical suspects. Progress against the PSA target has been affected by movement restrictions introduced to deal with the foot and mouth outbreak. This has disrupted the slaughter of older cattle under the OTMS because available rendering capacity has been used to dispose of the carcases of animals arising from the control of FMD. This, in turn, has increased the mean age of the cattle population and resulted in more cases than previously anticipated. Nevertheless, the outturn for 2001 still represents a reduction of more than 40 per cent. compared to 2000 when there were 1,311 cases in cattle presented as clinical suspects. The epidemic continues to decline rapidly and there is no particular concern at present in relation to the 2004 and 2006 targets.

Surplus Laboratories

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the two surplus laboratories at Harpenden and Torry referred to on page 21 of the 2001 departmental report, have been sold.

Elliot Morley: The laboratory at Torry was sold in April 2001. DEFRA has a leasehold interest in the laboratory at Harpenden. A joint conditional sale of the property by DEFRA and the freeholder floundered in January 2002 after planning consent was refused to the prospective purchaser. Negotiations are continuing with the planning authorities to facilitate a successful future sale.

Maladministration

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what payments have been made to individuals following findings of maladministration by ombudsmen with responsibility for agencies under the remit of her Department in the last 12 months; and what plans she has to review the powers to increase the level of awards that can be made.

Elliot Morley: One payment of £50.27 has been made to an individual following findings of maladministration by the ombudsman with responsibility for agencies under the remit of my Department in the last 12 months; and there are no plans to review the powers to increase the level of awards that can be made.

Deer

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the estimated deer population was in each of the last 30 years; by what method the estimates were determined; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: These data are not available to the Department.

Hunting With Dogs

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 26 March, ref. 46360, if she will make a statement on the future duties of Lord Burns in relation to hunting with dogs, with special reference to the issues of cruelty and utility.

Alun Michael: My noble Friend Lord Burns, was appointed in December 1999 to carry out an inquiry into hunting with dogs. He discharged his task with the submission of his report on 9 June 2000.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Music Teaching

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how much money the Department has spent on encouraging schoolchildren to play a musical instrument in each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how many schoolchildren have been offered training on a musical instrument in each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  how much money the Department and its predecessors have spent on providing schools with instruments in each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.
	As part of the national curriculum in music, all pupils up to Key Stage 3 are introduced to playing musical instruments. The Department does not, however, collect information on the numbers of schoolchildren receiving additional instrumental music lessons.
	We do recognise the value of instrumental music tuition and have taken a number of steps to support Local Education Authorities Music Services. In 1999 the Music Standards Fund was introduced. Between 1999 and 2004, total funding of £270 million will have been made available to music services across England. The Department's contribution towards this was £35 million in 1999–2000, £40 million in 2000–2001 and £50 million in 2001–2002. LEAs may spend Music Standards Fund in any way which enhances the opportunities for pupils to access musical education of high quality, including providing schools with musical instruments or encouraging children to play a musical instrument.
	Our wider opportunities programme will expand existing provision to give all primary school pupils who want to the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. The Department is working with partners, including representatives from LEA Music Services, on the best way to fulfil this pledge. As part of this exercise we are considering what information to ask LEAs to collect in order to monitor the numbers of school children learning a musical instrument.

Ministerial Private Offices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the running costs were of (a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff, and (b) her Department in each year from May 1997 to the nearest date for which the information is available.

Kim Howells: The running cost information requested for the Department is shown in the table. It reflects information published in the appropriation accounts and resource accounts. Information in the format requested is not held centrally for previous years and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		£ million 
		
			  DCMS running costs Ministers' private office running costs Ministers' private office staff running costs 
		
		
			 1998–99 21.862 1.638 1.048 
			 1999–2000 25.186 1.560 1.031 
			 2000–01 26.234 1.603 1.061

Departmental Contracts

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the 30 largest contracts awarded by her Department from (a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999, (c) May 1999 to April 2000, (d) May 2000 to April 2001 and (e) May 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, stating in each case the values of the contracts and the companies with which the contracts were placed.

Richard Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Tayside (Pete Wishart) on 28 February 2002, Official Report, columns 1537–38W.

Golden Jubilee

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if awards, other than the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, are to be presented during the Jubilee festivities; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced last December that the 2002 National Training Awards will include a special Jubilee award for individuals or organisations who have made an exceptional contribution to the community through training. The award of city status and a Lord Mayoralty to mark the Queen's Jubilee celebrations have already been announced. No other new awards specifically for the Jubilee are planned to be presented during the festivities.

Golden Jubilee

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list Government-sponsored commemorative Golden Jubilee items; what the cost to make each item is; how many of each item will be produced; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: The Golden Jubilee Medal is the only commemorative item being sponsored by the Government. Approximately 370,000 will be produced, at a cost of approximately £21 each.
	There are no plans to produce any other Government- sponsored commemorative items.

Golden Jubilee

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people are working on the planning and organisation of the Queen's Golden Jubilee; what Departments each of those people work for; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: The Golden Jubilee Office in my Department comprises 24 staff (two of whom work part-time) and three temporary staff working on a short-term basis. In the Ministry of Defence, 23 staff are currently employed on planning the Queen's visit to the armed forces in Portsmouth on 27 June. In other Departments the work, which includes representation on the Official Committee for the Golden Jubilee which has met roughly every two months, is spread among staff working on other issues. In so far as this is readily quantifiable, the Northern Ireland Office has the equivalent of four full-time staff; the Foreign and Commonwealth has the equivalent of 1.25 staff; the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has 0.7 of one post; the Department for Education and Skills has 0.7 of one post spread across five members of staff; the Department of Trade and Industry has 0.05 of one post; and the Scotland Office has 0.05 of one post (the work on the Queen's visit programme being largely dealt with by the Scottish Executive).

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people have been employed by her Department in each of the last three years under (a) the new deal for young people, (b) the new deal for the over 50s and (c) the new deal for lone parents; and at what cost, listed by category, to public funds.

Kim Howells: My Department does not hold information on the category of programme under which new dealers employed by this Department and the Royal Parks Agency are included. Information on the overall number of new dealers employed in the last four years follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1998–99 1 
			 1999–2000 2 
			 2000–01 1 
			 2001–02 0 
		
	
	My Department expects to offer employment to at least three new dealers shortly as part of a recent external recruitment campaign for administrative staff.
	New dealers take up existing vacancies so extra costs to public funds are limited to the subsidy, where appropriate, and any additional training and development which may be needed. The cost of the latter cannot be readily identified.

New Deal

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people employed by her Department under the new deal for young people in each of the last four years have subsequently (a) found unsubsidised employment for more than 13 weeks and (b) returned to jobseeker's allowance or other benefits.

Kim Howells: My Department and the Royal Parks Agency does not hold this information for people employed under this scheme who then move on. However, three out of the four people employed under this scheme since 1998–99 were subsequently offered permanent appointments in this Department (one in 1998–99 and two in 1999–2000).

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the (a) private finance initiative and (b) public private partnership projects which have been delayed.

Kim Howells: None.

Sports Days

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the ability of schools to hold an annual sports day.

Tessa Jowell: The Government have so far designated 506 school sport co-ordinators, to be placed within secondary schools across the country, who will have specific responsibility for planning and organising inter and intra-school competitive sport, including sports days. We have set a target of 1,000 co-ordinators in place by 2004, and it is expected that secondary schools—and through them, primary schools—in every LEA will have access to their expertise and support by that date. In addition, guidance is available from Sport England on holding school sports days.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many members of staff were employed by her Department on secondment from non-governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Kim Howells: The information in respect of DCMS is contained in the following table.
	
		
			  Secondments 
		
		
			 1999–2000 2 
			 2000–01 5 
			 2001 to date 7 
		
	
	Secondments are defined as all continuous interchange activity of three months or more.

Access to Information

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which her Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997.

Kim Howells: My Department's interface with the public is conducted largely through our 66 NDPBs. Information about our commitment to the Code of Practice and Modernising Government is on our website, under the Open Government heading. Reference is made there to our procedure guidelines on implementing an 'open' policy.
	Internal guidance is currently on our internal communications system and e-mail network and will form part of our forthcoming Publication Scheme, as required under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by her and her predecessor since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Kim Howells: holding answer 25 March 2002
	There have been no unpaid advisers appointed, in line with the requirements of paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code, by me or my predecessor since June 1997
	For details of unpaid appointments made by this Department to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I would refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 958W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Mr. Bryant).

Challenge Fund

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much of the £15 million Challenge Fund established to fund investment in the designated museums has been spent.

Kim Howells: To date a total of £12,254,735 has been claimed from the Designated Challenge Fund. All the funds (£15 million) have been committed to projects and final claims are expected to be made shortly.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on progress towards meeting the PSA target to achieve a £23 million saving through a new strategic body for museums, libraries and archives.

Kim Howells: The PSA target covers the savings to be realised as a result of restructuring in most of the Department's sectors. An annual saving of £7 million has already been made through the restructuring of the arts, tourism and heritage sectors, and this money has been redirected into front-line services. Further administration savings of £8 to £10 million are forecast from the imminent merger of the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards. The Department is continuing to work with its non-departmental public bodies, particularly through Quinquennial Reviews, to find further efficiency savings.

National Stadium

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, 
	(1)  pursuant to her answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 709–10W, what advice she has received from the (a) National Audit Office and (b) other authoritative sources about the concerns raised by the David James/Berwin Leighton report about the relationship between Wembley National Stadium Ltd and Multiplex; and if these concerns have been satisfactorily addressed;
	(2)  pursuant to her answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 709–10W, when the National Audit Office was notified that it will receive a copy of the David James/Berwin Leighton report; and when she expects to receive its advice.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 25 March 2002
	As I made clear to the House on 19 December, (Official Report, column 292), as soon as I received a copy of the David James/Berwin Leighton Paisner Report on procurement processes relating to the National Stadium project I asked the Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Ltd. to make a copy available to the National Audit Office who received it on 18 December. While the National Audit Office has no role in the decision making process, it gave initial advice to my Department on the report that same day. Subsequently the NAO has also given my officials advice more generally on corporate governance and value for money methodologies and criteria.
	As I explained to the House on 19 December, it was because of the concerns raised in the David James/Berwin Leighton Paisner Report that I asked the Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Ltd. to commission an independent value-for-money assessment of the proposed contracts and to ensure that corporate governance and procurement arrangements from now on represent best practice. Cyril Sweett Ltd. are carrying out that study and a copy of their terms of reference were placed in the House Library on 12 March. The Government will determine whether or not the Cyril Sweett Ltd. Report and the Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Ltd's work on corporate governance, procurement and other issues satisfies the conditions I set out on 19 December in the light of advice received from Sport England, Patrick Carter's review team and from within Government.

National Stadium

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her statement of 19 December 2001, Official Report, columns 291–93, if she will publish the terms of reference for the final report by Patrick Carter into the review of an English national football stadium; and whether they include an assessment as to the achievement of Government value for money and procurement standards and associated accounting issues.

Tessa Jowell: The terms of reference for Patrick Carter's remain those which I set out in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Mr. Pickthall) on 25 June 2001, Official Report, column 37W namely:
	"In the light of the FA's announcement of 1 May 2001 about the project to develop a new English National Stadium at Wembley for Football and Rugby League, to examine if the project can be funded and managed at Wembley or if that proved impractical, at another location in England."
	I published the Review Team's interim report on 19 December and I intend to publish the Review Team's final report when it is completed in due course.

National Stadium

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her oral statement of 19 December 2001, Official Report, columns 291–93, on the National Stadium, what assessment she has made of (a) the corporate governance changes made to the WNSL Board and (b) whether the present management arrangements can deliver the project on time and within a procedure acceptable to the public sector.

Tessa Jowell: As I set out on 19 December the Government's conditions for support of the Football Association's National Stadium project includes the requirement for changes to corporate governance to produce a management structure capable of delivering a complex project within procedures acceptable to the public sector. The Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Ltd. are working to meet the Government's conditions. I expect the FA's work to be completed in April. The Government will determine whether or not that work satisfies the conditions I set out on 19 December in the light of advice received from Sport England, Patrick Carter's review team and from within Government.

National Stadium

Dennis Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her statement of 19 December 2001, Official Report, columns 291–94, if she plans to publish the Carter report into the English National Stadium and her final decision on whether to support the National Stadium at Wembley on 30 April.

Tessa Jowell: The Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Ltd are working with a lead bank on financing the National Stadium project and undertaking the necessary work to fulfil the Government's conditions. I expect the FA's work to be completed in April. The Government will determine whether or not that work satisfies the conditions I set out on 19 December in the light of advice received from Sport England, Patrick Carter's review team and from within Government. It is my intention that Patrick Carter's final report be published. However, in line with the convention on announcements during local elections, I will not be making any statement until after 2 May 2002.

Broadcasting Regulation

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which elements of the programme content rules imposed upon broadcasters cover (a) responsibility in religious programme content, (b) exploitation of audience susceptibilities, (c) abuse/ incitement to hatred, (d) declaration of identity of religious bodies involved in programmes, (e) accuracy and fairness, (f) recognition of other religions, (g) appeals and donations, (h) recruitment, (i) claims and substantiation, (j) blasphemy and obscenity, (k) unacceptable organisations or practices, (l) religious advertising and (m) religious worship; and what assessment she has made of whether these rules adequately regulate the content of religious broadcasting.

Kim Howells: The information is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Question  Provision 
		
		
			 (a) Responsibility in religious programme content BSC: Code on Standards (Section 31) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 6: Section 9) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7 
			 (b) Exploitation of audience susceptibilities BSC: Code on Standards (Section 17) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) (i) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.7) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 6, especially sections 1,2,3 and 6) RAu: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 90 (2)(c) and Programme Code Rule 7.1 
			 (c) Abuse/incitement to hatred BSC: Code on Standards (Sections 36–43) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) (ii) and ITC Programme Code (Sections 7.2 and 7.6) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 37: Section 9 and Chapter 9: Sections 1 and 4.2) RAu: Broadcasting Act 1990, Section 90 (2) (c); Programme Code Rule 7.1 and Programme Code Rule 7.2 
			 (d) Declaration of identity of religious bodies involved in programmes BSC: Code on Fairness and Privacy (Section 6) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.4) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 24: Section 10) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.3 
			 (e) Accuracy and fairness BSC: Code on Fairness and Privacy (Sections 2–13) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (c) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.2) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 2: Part Two and Chapter 3) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.4 
			 (f) Recognition of other religions BSC: Code on Standards (Section 31) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) (ii) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.2) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 6: Section 9) RAu: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 90(2)(c) and Programme Code Rule 7.2 
			 (g) Appeals and donations BSC: Code on Standards (Section 13) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Sections 6 (1) (d) (i) and 7 (1) (b) and ITC Programme Code (Sections 6 and 7.5) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 30: Section 4) RAu: Broadcasting Act 1990 Section 2 (c) (i) and Programme Code Rule 7.7 and Programme Code Rule 6 
			 (h) Recruitment BSC: Code on Standards (Section 13) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.6) BBC: Not applicable RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.6 
			 (i) Claims and substantiation BSC: Code on Fairness and Privacy (Sections 7–10) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Section 7.8) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 2) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.9 
			 (j) Blasphemy and obscenity BSC: Blasphemy—Code on Standards (Section 31) Obscenity—Code on Standards (Section 82) ITC: Blasphemy—Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (a) and (d) (ii) & ITC Programme Code (Sections 1.5 and 1.8) Obscenity—Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (a) and ITC Programme Code (Sections 1.5 and 1.6) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 6: Sections 9 and 10 and Chapter 37: Section 7) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.2 
			 (k) Unacceptable organisations and practices BSC: Code on Standards (Sections 34 and 45–47) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (a) and ITC Programme Code (Section 5) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapters 8, 15 and 18) RAu: Programme Code Rule 7.5 
			 (l) Religious advertising BSC: Code on Standards (Section 13) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Sections 7.5–7.9) BBC: Not applicable. RAu: Advertising and Sponsorship Code, particularly Section 3, Rule 3 Religion, Faith and Related Systems of Belief 
			 (m) Religious worship BSC: Code on Standards (Section 31) ITC: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 6 (1) (d) and ITC Programme Code (Sections 7.1–7.3) BBC: BBC Producers' Guidelines (Chapter 6: Section 9) RAu: Broadcasting Act 1990: Section 90 (2)(c) and Programme Code Rule 7.1 
		
	
	We stated in the Communications White Paper that we will "maintain the requirement that due responsibility be exercised with respect to the content of religious programmes. Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, such programmes must not involve an improper exploitation of any susceptibilities of those watching or any abusive treatment of the religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination" [6.9.1]. The regulators are responsible for the Codes and guidelines, and from time to time to review them. Copies are available from the regulators.We are considering, in the light of the responses to the various consultations on ownership of the permitted licences by religious organisations, whether or not to retain rules in this respect also.

Religious Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what information she has as to the Christian radio stations which broadcast to United Kingdom listeners; and in the case of each such broadcaster, what information she has on (a) the size of audience and (b) the extend to which it complies with the relevant codes regulating broadcast output.

Kim Howells: The Department only has information on radio stations licensed by the Radio Authority. To date, the Radio Authority licence two local analogue religious licensees both in Greater London. These are Premier Christian Radio (176,000 listeners) and Liberty Radio (72,000 listeners). [source—RAJAR audience figures 4 Quarter 2001]
	The Radio Authority also licence 17 satellite stations of a Christian nature. These are:
	UCB Europe
	Stitching Transworld Radio Europe
	Transworld Radio Europe (German language)
	UCB Cross Rhythms
	Transworld Radio
	EWTN
	Premier Christian Radio
	The Spoken Bible
	Adventist World Radio
	Family Radio
	Family Radio International
	UCB—Talk
	UCB—Inspirational
	The Dream
	TalkGospel.com
	UCB—Bible
	Radio Al Mahabba.
	Audience information is not held for these channels.
	In addition, the Radio Authority issue restricted short-term licences (RSL's) for a wide range of reasons and events. RSL's are issued for a restricted coverage area as well as being restricted by duration (maximum 28 days) and are for small-scale community use. During 2001, the Radio Authority issued 21 licences to mark notable dates in the Christian calendar. These were awarded to:
	Caleb Radio (received 2 RSL licences during 2001)
	Flame FM, Bradford
	Flame FM
	New Life Radio (received 2 RSL licences during 2001)
	Hope FM (received 2 RSL licences during 2001)
	Branch FM
	Revival Radio
	GBMR
	Stoneleigh FM
	Kingdom Faith Camp Radio
	New Wine Radio
	Flame FM on the Wirral
	ARB
	Lighthouse
	Radio Grove
	Adventist Radio—Heavenly Hampstead
	Good News Radio
	ARMK/Adventist Radio Milton Keynes.
	Audience information is not held for these channels.
	All these stations must comply with the Radio Authority's relevant codes regulating broadcast output. During 2001, the Radio Authority issued a warning to Premier Christian Radio for several breaches of the Broadcasting Act 1990 and the Programme Code, and to Liberty Radio for breaching the Advertising and Sponsorship Code.

Religious Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  whether it is her policy to permit and encourage the Christian broadcasting industry in the United Kingdom;
	(2)  what representations she has received from (a) right hon. and hon. Members and (b) others supporting the lifting of statutory prohibitions on religious broadcasters;
	(3)  which categories of broadcasting licence ownership are prohibited for religious bodies; and in the case of each category of licence, what public policy objectives are served by the ban;
	(4)  what consideration she has given to the implications for (a) listeners, (b) competition and (c) religious activity of the statutory ban on Christian broadcasters being granted categories of broadcasting licence; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996 do not permit the regulators to award licences for: national analogue sound programmes; digital sound programmes; terrestrial television services; an radio and TV multiplex licences (local or national). The Acts do give the regulators discretion to award the following licences to religious organisations: local analogue, satellite and cable sound programme licences; cable and satellite television services; and restricted service sound programme licences.
	The White Paper 'A New Future for Communications' published in December 2000 and the more recent paper 'Consultation on Media Ownership Rules' published in November 2001 confirmed that the Government planned to bring forward legislation to allow religious bodies to hold a local digital sound programme licence. The papers also discussed the background to the restrictions on religious ownership of certain broadcasting licences: "We would welcome views on whether we should further relax the ban on religious ownership. There is a strong demand by some for religious content. But religious content has a particular capacity to offend those with different views and opinions, or, sometimes to exploit the susceptibilities of the vulnerable. Religious issues may also shade into matters of political controversy. These concerns may not be fully dealt with by the regulation of religious content and are particularly acute in relation to terrestrial licences where scarce spectrum means that choice is naturally limited for viewers. We nevertheless welcome views on whether we could relax the prohibition when choice increases in the digital future, or whether it will remain a necessary safeguard which should be retained".
	We receive approximately 14,500 (6,500 and 8,000 respectively) responses from MP's, organisations and members of public broadly supporting the lifting of the current restrictions. We are reviewing the restrictions on the holding of certain licences by religious bodies in the light of these responses, and will publish details of our proposals with the draft Communications Bill, which we expect to be in the spring.
	It is for organisations in the Christian broadcasting industry to decide if they wish to apply to the Radio Authority for any of the aforementioned licences.

Religious Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  if she will include consideration of the Christian broadcasting sector in her commitment to consult widely and deeply about outstanding questions of broadcasting regulation;
	(2)  what representations she has received on the future regulation of Christian broadcasting in the United Kingdom.

Kim Howells: We will be consulting widely and deeply on a draft Communications Bill, and will of course consider all points raised by the Christian broadcasting sector before finalising the proposals which we put before Parliament when the legislative timetable allows. We have already received a large number of representations about the future regulation and ownership of religious broadcasting.

Religious Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received concerning the Carla Rosa Opera Company; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: We have received three letters from members of the public about the Carl Rosa Opera Company. I was pleased to learn that the excellent work of this historic company will reach an even wider audience with the announcement this week by the Arts Council of England of a national touring programme grant for a tour of three operettas to smaller venues in England.

Religious Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect of continued statutory prohibition on religious broadcasting on her policies of promoting quality, diversity and plurality in the broadcast sector.

Kim Howells: Religious broadcasting is not prohibited in the United Kingdom. The Government take the view that religious programming is an important element of radio and television services. Furthermore, under the Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996, the regulators are given discretion to award the following licences to religious organisations: local analogue, satellite and cable sound programme licences; cable and satellite television services licences; and restricted service sound programme licences.

Press Complaints Commission

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has received concerning the effectiveness of the Press Complaints Commission.

Kim Howells: Over the last six months, DCMS has received 23 letters mentioning the Press Complaints Commission, of which 16 made specific complaints.

Communications Bill

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the pre-legislative scrutiny procedure will be for the Communications Bill; and when it will start.

Kim Howells: The Government hope that the two Houses will agree to establish a Joint Committee to consider any draft Communications Bill and will bring forward the necessary motions sometime after the Easter Adjournment.

Pugin's "The Grange"

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received concerning The Grange, the home of Augustus Pugin; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, has received no representations concerning The Grange. The Landmark Trust, an independent UK building preservation charity which restores neglected historic buildings, has been awarded £1.1 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards restoration of The Grange. The Landmark Trust has an existing grant offer from English Heritage also towards the conservation and repair of The Grange. English Heritage are currently considering making an increased grant offer for the restoration project.

Sponsorship

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the industries sponsored by her Department, stating for each the (a) amount and (b) percentage of GDP they represented in each of the last five years.

Kim Howells: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has responsibility for sponsoring the tourism, gambling, video and film, radio and TV, and music industries.
	
		Value added (£ million) 
		
			  2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 
		
		
			 Tourism(75),(76) 45,100 43,900 42,000 39,400 35,200 
			 Gambling(77) 7,300 6,600 6,600 6,400 5,900 
			 Video and film(78) 2,400 1,900 1,600 1,700 1,800 
			 Radio and TV(78) 5,800 4,200 3,700 3,500 2,700 
			 Music and the visual and performing arts(78),(79) 3,600 3,200 2,900 2,700 3,100 
		
	
	
		Percentage of GDP 
		
			  2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 
		
		
			 Tourism(76) 4.8 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.6 
			 Gambling 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 
			 Video and film(78) 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 
			 Radio and TV(78) 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 
			 Music and the visual and performing arts(78),(79) 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 
		
	
	(75) Figures for the tourism day visits component of these figures are estimated from 1996 and 1998 Day Visits Survey.
	(76) Estimates from surveys of overseas visitors and UK residents.
	(77) Consumer Trends, Office for National Statistics.
	(78) Estimates based on the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Annual Business Inquiry.
	(79) ONS category "artistic and literary creation and interpretation" does not distinguish between music and other performing arts and therefore I am unable to estimate a specific split for this category.

BBC News 24

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the terms of reference are of the review she announced on 12 March into BBC News 24.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 25 March 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Mr. Pope) on 21 March 2002, Official Report, column 510W.

Library Staff

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the average salary for (a) a professionally trained librarian and (b) an untrained library assistant has been in each local authority in each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Information on salary levels for professional and non-professional staff across the 149 English Library Authorities is not held centrally.

Library Staff

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) professionally trained librarians and (b) untrained library assistants were employed by each local authority in each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: This information is not readily available. However, we can extract and then represent the required data from the 149 English Library Authorities from existing reference sources. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as this has been done, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Independent Television Commission

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  which representatives of the ITC have attended meetings with minsters and officials from her Department in the last six months;
	(2)  how many times (a) ministers and (b) officials from her Department have met representatives of the ITC in the last six months.

Kim Howells: The Independent Television Commission are involved in taking forward work on the draft Communications Bill, the Digital Action Plan, the establishment of the new converged communications regulator (OFCOM), and other projects with which my Department engages. Ministers and officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have therefore met representatives of the ITC frequently in the last six months. It would not be possible to list all the meetings or all the individuals involved without disproportionate cost.

Music Advisers

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what figures she has collated on how many music advisers in the Department (a) perform or have performed music in the past, (b) play an instrument and (c) studied music at university; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: My Department sponsors the music industry and is committed to working closely with them and other Government Departments to help ensure that all parts of the UK music industry thrive both at home and abroad.
	Of the five officials directly involved in providing advice on music industry issues in the Department:
	(a) four perform or have performed music in the past,
	(b) four play an instrument,
	(c) none studied music at university.

Archives

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Government are establishing regional archivist groups; what movement of archives there will be to such groups from county and national archives; and what representations she has received on the matter.

Kim Howells: holding answer 26 March 2002
	With encouragement from this Department, the National Council on Archives has set up a network of Regional Archive Councils which were formally established in 1999. They co-ordinate the development of archives policy and promote archives within the regions. As they are councils rather than repositories there are no plans to move archives from county and national archives to these groups. The Regional Archive Councils published archives strategies for each region in 2001.
	My Department has received the National Council on Archives report "Archives in the Regions", an overview of the English regional archive strategies, and is in discussion with Resource, the Council for museums, archives and libraries and other interested groups on how to take the recommendations of the report forward.

User Consultation

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what new steps her Department took in 2001–02 to consult the users of its services about their wishes and expectations; and if she will publish the findings.

Kim Howells: The Department is actively following the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations in order to consult the users of its services about their wishes and expectations, efficiently and effectively. These findings are published and consistently updated on the Department's website.

Correspondence

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of external correspondence was answered within 18 working days as of December 2001.

Richard Caborn: For the period 1 April to 31 December 2001, 89 per cent. of the Department's external correspondence was answered within 18 working days.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what recent assessment she has made of whether the target to reduce staff absence to nine days per employee by 2003 will be met;
	(2)  if the target to reduce absence to seven days per staff year by 2001 was met;
	(3)  what recent assessment she has made of whether the target to reduce absence to six days per staff year by 2003 will be met.

Kim Howells: No, but significant progress has been made. In 2001, the average sickness absence was 7.86 days per member of staff, compared with 9.28 in 2000.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the target to reduce absence in the Royal Parks Agency to 10 days per employee by 2001 was met.

Kim Howells: Responsibility for the subject of this question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its Chief Executive, William Weston, and I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from William Weston to Mr. John Bercow, dated 10 April 2002
	I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the target to reduce sick absence rates in the Royal Parks Agency, as this is an operational matter for which the Agency is responsible.
	The Agency's target was to reduce the rate to 10 days per employee per year by the end of 2001/02, as a step towards reducing it to 9 days per employee per year by the end of 2002/03.
	The average rate for the year ending 31 March 2002 was 20 days per employee. This is higher than that for the previous year, and is largely attributable to significant rates of long term sick leave within the Royal Parks Constabulary. It does not reflect more frequent instances of short-term sick leave among the staff as a whole, which is evidenced by the fact that the average rate for non-uniformed staff was less than 5 days per year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what was the outturn achieved at 31 December 2001 on the target that all invoices not in dispute should be paid within 30 days.

Kim Howells: 99.1 per cent. of invoices not in dispute were paid within 30 days, or agreed contractual terms, by the Department during the period January to 31 December 2001.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will take steps to improve the response time to Parliamentary Questions.

Tessa Jowell: In its response to the Public Administration Select Committee's Second Report of Session 2000–01 on ministerial accountability and Parliamentary Questions, the Government made clear their commitment to providing prompt and accurate answers to Parliamentary Questions. This continues to be the Government's position.

Service Reviews

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of departmental services and activities have so far been reviewed, as required by the policy set out in the handbook, "Better Quality Services".

Kim Howells: So far reviews of 8 per cent. of departmental services and activities have been completed. A recent study carried out jointly with the Treasury and the Centre for Management and Policy Studies will lead to the completion of reviews of a further 40 per cent. The Department is on course to meet its service delivery agreement target of conducting better quality services reviews of 50 per cent. of its activities by the end of 2004.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what new measures her Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Kim Howells: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him of 31 January, Official Report, columns 547–49, in which it was stated that measures were being taken to resite internal and external surveillance equipment. All departmental premises abut public thoroughfares making more stringent preventative measures impractical.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press officers there were in her Department on (a) 1 May 1997 and (b) the latest available date.

Kim Howells: There were nine press officers in my Department on 1 May 1997, including two working part-time. The figure today is seven.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost of running his press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.

Kim Howells: The total cost of running the Department for Culture, Media and Sport press office in 1996–97 was £236,524.53. The latest year for which figures are available for the total cost of running the press office is 2000–01, which totalled £582,442.74.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was.

Richard Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins) on 28 February 2002 Official Report, column 1534W.

Special Advisers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by departmental special advisers on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for official entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

Richard Caborn: Expenditure on official hospitality by special advisers in this Department over the past three years was:
	
		
			   £ 
		
		
			 1999–2000 335.05 
			 2000–01 146.80 
			 2001–02(80) 218.51 
		
	
	(80) Provisional.
	Information on earlier years is not readily available.

Free Television Licences

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many residents of Dumfries and Galloway are in receipt of free television licences; and how many residents are entitled to this benefit on age grounds.

Kim Howells: TV Licensing, which administers the free television licence scheme for the BBC as Licensing Authority, is not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, estimates based on the 1991 Census indicate that there were approximately 10,700 people aged 75 or over in the constituencies of Dumfries and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale.

Free Television Licences

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will award concessionary television licences to the partially-sighted.

Kim Howells: No. The independent review panel on the future funding of the BBC, which reported in 1999, considered the concessionary arrangements but recommended the introduction only of a 50 per cent. reduction in the licence fee for registered blind people. We have implemented that recommendation but have no plans to extend the concession.

Maladministration

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments have been made to individuals following findings of maladministration ombudsmen with responsibility for agencies under the remit of her Department in the last 12 months; and what plans she has to review the powers to increase the level of awards that can be made.

Kim Howells: The Department has responsibility for one executive agency, the Royal Parks Agency. No payments have been made to individuals following findings of maladministration ombudsmen with responsibility for the Royal Parks Agency in the last 12 months.

Relocation

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to relocate executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies under the remit of her Department to Scotland.

Richard Caborn: There are no such plans at present.

Tourism

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement about the progress of the English Tourism Council's stepping stones scheme.

Kim Howells: The stepping stones scheme is currently in its third year of operation and eight local authority districts are already participating, exceeding the target of six by the end of 2002–03. Of these eight participating districts, five (including North Devon) are in the south-west region where over 600 assessments have taken place to date.

Tourism

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how the new grading schemes for hotels, guest accommodation, caravan parks and self-catering accommodation introduced by the English Tourism Council are being evaluated; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The English Tourism Council (ETC) evaluates the quality assurance schemes it has introduced in a number of ways: standards are reviewed periodically in consultation with the industry and consumers; statistics on numbers participating are compiled monthly; quarterly feedback is sought from the 22,000 participants and from the quality assessors; and the industry is also asked three times a year for its views on the assessment process. In addition, Regional Tourist Boards monitor comments and complaints about accommodation in their regions; and the ETC has commenced market research this year on changing public perceptions of accommodation quality.
	The Department for Culture Media and Sport has highlighted accommodation quality as one of the most important areas of work for the ETC, who must report under its funding agreement on increased participation in the schemes, which should impact ultimately on occupancy levels.

Golf Tourism

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to promote golf clubs as part of a golf tourism strategy.

Kim Howells: The British Tourist Authority (BTA) has developed a mini-marketing plan for golf and works closely with Wales and Scotland on their golf strategies.
	The BTA's website features various aspects of golf including participation, event information, history and sports wholesalers who package golf tours to the UK. In addition, BTA is considering producing a publication specifically dedicated to golf tourism.

Public Libraries

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of public libraries in the UK had public internet access by December 2001.

Kim Howells: The £100 million lottery funded programme to connect public libraries to the internet is proceeding well and by the end of last year 67 per cent. of all UK libraries offered public internet access. The programme is expected to fulfil its target of connecting all libraries to the internet by the end of 2002.

Digital Television Website

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) unique visitors and (b) page impressions there have been for the digital television website, digitaltelevision.gov.uk

Kim Howells: From the period of 12 October 2001 to 27 March 2002 the details are:
	(a) page impressions 64,643;
	(b) unique visitors 23,887.

Creative Industries

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what the (a) revenues generated and (b) employment created by the creative industries were for the financial years (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000, (iv) 2000–01 and (v) 2001–02 to the most recent date for which figures are available;
	(2)  what has been the total change in output of the creative industries in the financial years (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02 to the most recent date for which figures are available;
	(3)  how much the creative industries contributed to the balance of trade through exports in the financial years (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02 to the most recent date for which figures are available.

Kim Howells: -- Turnover
		
			   Revenues(81) £ billion Employment(82) £ million Exports(83) £ million 
		
		
			 1997 101 1.29 8.4 
			 1998 110 1.37 9.2 
			 1999 118 1.45 9.9 
			 2000 128 1.48 10.8 
			 2001 — 1.60 — 
		
	
	(81) Estimates based on the Office for National Statistics Annual Business Inquiry and Industry estimates.
	(82) Estimates relate to each June. Figures are based on the Office for National Statistics Annual Business Inquiry and Labour Force Survey.
	(83) Estimates based on the Office for National Statistics International Trade in Services Inquiry and industry estimates.
	
		Gross Value Added
		
			   Change in output(87) Per cent. 
		
		
			 1997–98 10 
			 1998–99 7 
			 1999–2000 13 
		
	
	(84) Adjusted to remove growth due to inflation. Estimates based on the Office for National Statistics Annual Business Inquiry.

Creative Industries

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the competitiveness of the creative industries in the UK in each year since 1996–97.

Kim Howells: My Department is not able to make an accurate assessment of the competitiveness of the creative industries as figures are not yet available from the Office for National Statistics.

Creative Industries

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her Department's plans to improve the dissemination of statistics on the creative industries; and what progress has been made towards that aim.

Kim Howells: In March 2001 my Department published the second Creative Industries Mapping Document, providing a measure of the economic contribution of the creative industries to the UK. This document remains relevant and is available from my Department's website at www.culture.gov.uk/creative/mapping.html.
	My Department is also working closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in order to develop estimates that report on the performance of the creative industries nationally. We are also working with the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) on a broad framework for the collation of statistics, including those for the creative industries, in order to provide consistency across the regions.
	The Department is considering, in cooperation with other stakeholders, whether there is a need for a further mapping exercise.

Invoices

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of invoices to the Department not in dispute were paid within 30 days or the otherwise agreed contractual terms in 2001.

Kim Howells: 99.1 per cent. of invoices not in dispute were paid within 30 days, or agreed contractual terms, by the Department during the period January to 31 December 2001.

European Regional Development Fund

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which of her Department's projects have received finance from the European Regional Development Fund in the financial years (a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000, (e) 2000–01 and (f) 2001–02 to the most recent date for which figures are available.

Richard Caborn: My Department does not administer any regeneration initiatives nor does it receive finance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). However, many public bodies in the culture and leisure field, including many funded by DCMS, participate in such initiatives and, during the period in question, applicants from within the fields of tourism, culture and leisure received ERDF finance in excess of £200 million and will continue to receive funding throughout the 2000–06 programme.

Historic Sites (Worcestershire)

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the sites of historic interest in Worcestershire which have received grant aid in the last five years, indicating (a) the date and (b) the amount awarded in each case.

Kim Howells: The following sites in Worcestershire were offered grant aid from English Heritage:
	
		
			 Site  Date of offer Amount offered £ 
		
		
			 St. Peter, Besford 7 July 1997 24,973 
			 Hanbury Hall, Hanbury 6 March 1998 32,510 
			 Preaching Cross, St. Kenelm's Church, Upton Snodsbury 11 September 1998 725 
			 Abbey Gateway, Malvern 29 September 1998 2,736 
			 Netherton Chapel, Netherton 9 October 1998 1,226 
			 St. Michael and All Angels, Tenbury Wells 19 December 1998 13,268 
			 St. Michael's Ruined Nave and West Tower Walls, Abberley 29 March 1999 21,034 
			 Walker Hall, Evesham 20 May 1999 46,000 
			 Abberley Hall Clock tower, Great Witley 20 September 1999 5,640 
			 Hanbury Hall, Droitwich 26 January 2000 23,410 
			 St. Mary Magdelene, Himbleton 2 February 2000 24,044 
			 St. Michael and All Angels, Knighton on Teme 2 February 2000 10,003 
			 Middle Littleton Tithe Barn, Middle Littleton 22 March 2000 18,160 
			 Baches Forge, Churchill 31 March 2000 23,580 
			 St. Deny, Severn Stoke 31 March 2000 13,689 
			 St. Peter, Powick 31 March 2000 42,401 
			 St. Andrew, Ombersley 10 May 2000 23,338 
			 Hewell Grange (HMP), Bromsgrove 10 November 2000 15,000 
			 St. Mary, Stanford on Teme 21 December 2000 180,691 
			 St. Michael and All Angels, Tenbury Wells 21 December 2000 45,641 
			 St. Giles, Heightington 21 December 2000 16,004 
			 All Saints, Worcester 28 March 001 107,500 
			 St. Michael's Ruined Nave and West Tower Walls, Abberley 20 June 2001 8,000 
			 Total  699,573 
		
	
	The following projects have been awarded grants by the Heritage Lottery Fund:
	
		
			 Project title  Applicant Award date Award pa£ 
		
		
			 Gwen Finch Wetland Reserve Project Worcestershire Wildlife Trust 3 March 1998 354,470 
			 City of Worcester CAPS Worcester City Council 19 March 1998 150,000 
			 Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, Reserves Restoration Project Worcestershire Nature Conservation Trust Ltd. 16 July 1998 884,750 
			 St. Peter, Besford, Worcestershire St. Peter, Besford, Worcestershire 22 October 1998 12,700 
			 Worcestershire Countryside Experience Worcestershire County Council 26 January 1999 30,000 
			 Severn Valley Railway Heritage Project Kidderminster Railway Museum Trust Ltd. 13 May 1999 1,757,000 
			 Lifford Hall, Worcestershire—re-roofing and refurbishment Lifford Memorial Hall 3 August 1999 329,200 
			 St. Mary, Ripple, Worcestershire St. Mary, Ripple, Worcestershire 3 September 1999 484,400 
			 Elgar Birthplace Museum Development Elgar Foundation and Elgar Birthplace Trust 12 October 1999 236,500 
			 Worcestershire Soldier Worcestershire Regiment Museum Trust 7 December 1999 323,000 
			 Worcester Museum of Medicine and Health Care Charles Hastings Education Centre 29 March 2000 321,000 
			 Malvern Heritage Project Worcestershire County Council 7 August 2000 30,000 
			 Hunthouse Wood Nature Reserve—extension Worcestershire Wildlife Trust 14 September 2000 24,200 
			 St. Stephen, Redditch, Worcestershire St. Stephen, Redditch PCC 17 October 2000 227,300 
			 The Elgar Birthplace Museum The Elgar Foundation 20 December 2000 47,400 
			 Penorchard Meadows—acquisition and restoration Worcestershire Wildlife Trust 19 October 2000 110,500 
			 Worcestershire Heathland Heritage Project Worcestershire County Council 22 May 2001 82,700 
			 Kidderminster Railway Museum roof and canopy restoration Kidderminster Railway Museum Trust Ltd. 13 June 2001 177,500 
			 Lasletts Almshouses, Worcester—repair of defective paving Lasletts Almshouse Charity 26 July 2001 18,000 
			 Castle Three Car—acquisition, Worcestershire Worcestershire County Museum 9 August 2001 5,200 
			 Natural Connections—Worcestershire Worcestershire Wildlife Trust 12 September 2001 74,800 
			 Restoration of Great Northern Railway Carriage No. 2701 L.N.E.R. (S.V.R) Coach Fund 12 September 2001 84,300 
			 Grimley Brick Pits SSSI—lease purchase and restoration Worcestershire Nature Conservation Trust Ltd. 12 September 2001 84,700 
			 Witley Court—repairs to Nesfield garden and fountains English Heritage 13 March 2002 727,500 
			 Church House Areley Kings—restoration, Worcestershire Worcestershire Building Preservation Trust 13 March 2002 371,500 
			 Total   6,948,620

Public Service Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the regional dimension to public service broadcasting; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: I have received representations from 25 hon. Members on the future of ITV regional programming. I understand that five members of the public have also raised this subject with my Department.
	The Government's proposals to retain and to strengthen the regional dimension to public service broadcasting to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of different communities and cultural interests were set out in the White Paper "A New Future for Communications". The necessary provisions will be included in the forthcoming Communications Bill.

Youth Football

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received from (a) Sport England and (b) others in respect of the future funding of youth football associated with Football League clubs; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: Nationwide Football League clubs face the prospect of reduced broadcasting revenues for the next two seasons, and it is possible that this will have consequences for the levels of funding they presently devote to youth development. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are in regular contact with the League and the Football Association, and will discuss this issue with them in detail once the position is clearer. My Department has not received representations from Sport England on this subject.

ITV Digital

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with Granada plc and Carlton Communications plc over the future of ITV Digital; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Over the past few weeks, I have been kept closely in touch by all sides involved in the ITV Digital negotiations. However, the decisions taken by ITV Digital are commercial decisions for them, and them alone, to take. An administrator has now been appointed and is in charge of finding a satisfactory outcome for all the parties.

Lottery Funding

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery funding has been received by organisations within the Torbay Unitary Authority.

Richard Caborn: Torbay has received grants from the National Lottery worth a total of £4,971,268.

Lottery Funding

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she made of the suitability of including Torbay in the list of areas under the targeted Lottery initiative.

Richard Caborn: The selection of Fair Share areas was a matter for the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund, based on broad criteria set by the Government. Torbay was not selected because it is not one of the 100 most deprived Local Authority Districts in England.

Gaming Machines

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what estimate her Department has made of the impact on the (a) revenues and (b) viability of registered and proprietary clubs of implementing proposals to limit jackpots for gaming machines; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans she has to implement proposals restricting jackpots on gaming machines in registered and proprietary clubs; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: Consultations on the report of the Gambling Review Body established that its recommendation that registered clubs should lose their entitlement under the current law to install jackpot gaming machines would have a significant adverse impact on the revenue and viability of many. We have decided not to accept this recommendation, for the reasons set out in paragraph 4.17 of "A safe bet for success" (Cm 5397) which we laid before Parliament on 26 March, and as I explained in reply to a question from the hon. Member for Fareham on 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 549.

Gambling

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list all the proposals in A Safe Bet for Success-Modernising Britain's Gambling Laws, which will not require a change in primary legislation and for each proposal state (a) the method by which it will be implemented and (b) the date on which she expects the implementation to take place.

Richard Caborn: Appendix B to Cm 5397 identifies which proposals require changes in primary legislation and which do not. Of the proposals in the latter category which the Appendix indicates that the Government has decided to accept, most will not be implemented in advance of primary legislation, because they involve either action by the proposed Gambling Commission which that legislation will establish, or substantial changes to the current balance of regulation which it would not be desirable to take forward ahead of the establishment of the Commission, with its new powers to supervise, monitor and enforce them.
	The proposals which the Government proposed to implement in advance of primary legislation are as follows, as set out in Chapter 9 of Cm 5397.
	
		
			 Recommendation Method of implementation 
		
		
			 12 Administrative action by Gaming Board 
			 56 Industry code of practice or Regulations under the European Communities Act 1972 
			 73 Order under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 
			 77 Code of practice issued on behalf of the Gaming Board and BACTA 
			 81 Order under the Regulatory Reform Act 2000 
			 93 Order under the Gaming Act 1968 
			 94 Advice from Gaming Board to licensing justices 
			 98 Order under the Gaming Act 1968 
			 102 Order under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 
			 118 Order under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 
			 134 Advice from DCMS to local authorities and pools companies 
		
	
	Recommendations 12 and 73 were implemented on 1 March 2002. Recommendations 93, 94, 98, 102, 118 and 134 should be implemented, subject to Parliament's approval where subordinate legislation is concerned, before the Summer Recess. I intend that the remaining recommendations should be implemented in the course of this financial year.

Television Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by her Department.

Kim Howells: The DCMS core functions are in a single building and that building alone requires the single television licence that is purchased annually by the Department at a cost of £109.00.

Television Licensing

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the number of prosecutions undertaken by Television Licensing in each of the last five years, stating for each prosecution (i) whether the defendant was convicted, (ii) where convicted, the punishment the defendant received and (iii) the age of the defendant.

Kim Howells: The available information relates to prosecutions for all offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts of 1949 and 1967 (though the great majority of these involve licence fee evasion) and distinguishes only between people aged under 21 and those aged 21 or over. The figures for England and Wales for each of the years from 1996 to 2000 are shown in the table.
	
		Persons proceeded against at the magistrates' courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts 1949 to 1967 (mainly television licence evasion), England and Wales 1996 to 2000(85)
		
			  Sentence breakdown  
			  Proceeded against Found guilty Sentenced(86) Absolute/ conditional discharge Fine Community sentence Otherwise dealt with 
		
		
			 1996 188,108 164,848 164,851 2,703 161,984 7 157 
			 1997 92,728 76,984 76,985 1,331 75,600 16 38 
			 1998 96,616 76,605 76,604 902 75,621 8 73 
			 1999 68,778 55,813 55,813 919 54,799 10 85 
			 2000 121,124 105,714 105,715 2,149 103,542 4 20 
		
	
	(85) These data are on the principal offence basis.
	(86) In some years the number sentenced may exceed the number found guilty as these may include cases where a person is found guilty at the magistrates court and committed for sentence at the Crown Court, but the sentencing at the Crown Court does not take place until the following year.

Digital Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will publish statistics on the take up of digital television by age group.

Kim Howells: Research commissioned by my Department into consumer attitudes towards digital television will include take-up figures for digital television by age group and is due to be published in May. We published similar research in June 2001. The Report is available on the DCMS website at http:// www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdfs/digtv_final_report.pdf

Digital Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on access by (a) the BBC and (b) all other broadcasters to the (i) digital terrestrial, (ii) digital satellite and (iii) digital cable television platforms in the United Kingdom.

Kim Howells: In the White Paper "A new Future for Communications", the Government made a commitment to ensure that the public service broadcasting channels (those of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) are available on all the main platforms, both before and after switchover. The forthcoming Communications Bill will give us the opportunity to include any provisions necessary to achieve this objective. The access of other channels to the digital platforms is a commercial matter for them and the platform operators, subject to fair competition rules.

Digital Television

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what (a) date and (b) grounds the recent change in the affordability element of the digital switchover tests was made.

Kim Howells: There has been no such change.

Radio and TV Licences

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list (a) the cost and (b) the number of holders of (i) the wireless licence and (ii) the TV licence in each year of their operation.

Kim Howells: The radio licence was introduced in 1922 and the television licence in 1946. Information on the number of licences in force prior to 1947 is not readily available. The information requested is as follows.
	
		
			 Year Radio licence fee Radio licences in force as at 31 March (millions) Mono television licence fee Colour television licence fee Television licences in force as at 31 March (millions) 
		
		
			 1922 10s — — — — 
			 1946 10s — £2.00 — — 
			 1947 £1.00 10.8 £2.00 — 0.015 
			 1948 £1.00 11.1 £2.00 — 0.046 
			 1949 £1.00 11.6 £2.00 — 0.127 
			 1950 £1.00 11.8 £2.00 — 0.344 
			 1951 £1.00 11.5 £2.00 — 0.764 
			 1952 £1.00 11.2 £2.00 — 1.4 
			 1953 £1.00 10.7 £2.00 — 2.1 
			 1954 £1.00 10.1 £2.00 — 3.2 
			 1955 £1.00 9.4 £2.00 — 4.5 
			 1956 £1.00 8.5 £4.00 — 5.7 
			 1957 £1.00 7.5 £4.00 — 7.0 
			 1958 £1.00 6.5 £4.00 — 8.1 
			 1959 £1.00 5.4 £4.00 — 9.3 
			 1960 £1.00 4.5 £4.00 — 10.5 
			 1961 £1.00 3.9 £4.00 — 11.3 
			 1962 £1.00 3.5 £4.00 — 11.8 
			 1963 £1.00 3.2 £4.00 — 12.4 
			 1964 £1.00 3.0 £4.00 — 12.9 
			 1965 £1 5s 2.8 £5.00 — 13.3 
			 1966 £1 5s 2.6 £5.00 — 13.6 
			 1967 £1 5s 2.5 £5.00 — 14.3 
			 1968 £1 5s 2.5 £5.00 £10.00 15.1 
			 1969 £1 5s 2.4 £6.00 £11.00 15.5 
			 1970 £1 5s 2.3 £6.00 £11.00 15.9 
			 1971 — — £7.00 £12.00 15.9 
			 1972 — — £7.00 £12.00 16.7 
			 1973 — — £7.00 £12.00 17.1 
			 1974 — — £7.00 £12.00 17.3 
			 1975 — — £8.00 £18.00 17.7 
			 1976 — — £8.00 £18.00 17.8 
			 1977 — — £9.00 £21.00 18.1 
			 1978 — — £10.00 £25.00 18.1 
			 1979 — — £12.00 £34.00 18.4 
			 1980 — — £12.00 £34.00 18.3 
			 1981 — — £15.00 £46.00 18.7 
			 1982 — — £15.00 £46.00 18.6 
			 1983 — — £15.00 £46.00 18.5 
			 1984 — — £15.00 £46.00 18.6 
			 1985 — — £18.00 £58.00 18.7 
			 1986 — — £18.00 £58.00 18.7 
			 1987 — — £18.00 £58.00 19.0 
			 1988 — — £21.00 £62.50 19.4 
			 1989 — — £22.00 £66.00 19.4 
			 1990 — — £24.00 £71.00 19.6 
			 1991 — — £25.50 £77.00 19.5 
			 1992 — — £26.50 £80.00 19.6 
			 1993 — — £27.50 £83.00 20.1 
			 1994 — — £28.00 £84.50 20.4 
			 1995 — — £28.50 £86.50 21.1 
			 1996 — — £30.00 £89.50 21.1 
			 1997 — — £30.50 £91.50 21.3 
			 1998 — — £32.50 £97.50 21.7 
			 1999 — — £33.50 £101.00 22.2 
			 2000 — — £34.50 £104.00 22.6 
			 2001 — — £36.50 £109.00 22.8 
			 2002 — — £37.50 £112.00 —

BBC

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the criteria by which she assessed applications for BBC new services.

Kim Howells: The criteria for assessing BBC public service proposals were published by my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Chris Smith) and laid in the Libraries of both Houses in January 2001.

Documents

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list all the documents published by her Department since 8 June 2001, for each one stating (a) the date of publication, (b) the purpose of publication, (c) the cost of publication, (d) the number of copies produced, (e) the cover price, (f) the number of copies sold, (g) the number of copies sent after request from members of the public or interested parties and (h) the number of copies disposed of by other, specified, means.

Kim Howells: The table sets out the documents published by my Department since 8 June 2001 with the cover price, copies produced and cost to the Department. Documents with a cover price are printed and distributed by The Stationery Office (TSO) and the number of copies produced and sold is for them.
	The purpose of these publications is to provide the Department's stakeholders with information on policy developments and, where appropriate, to provide public information more generally.
	Information on the number of copies of free documents sent after request from members of the public or interested parties is not held centrally.
	
		
			 Document Publication Date Cover Price (£)  Circulation Cost to DCMS (£000) 
		
		
			 Summer Supplementary Estimates June 2001 3.70 TSO 0.2 
			 Report of the Gambling Review Body July 2001 38.90 TSO 12.2 
			 London Open House Leaflet September 2001 Free 3,000 1 
			 Cricket Disorder Report September 2001 Free 700 3.8 
			 Operation of the National Lottery October 2001 4.00 TSO 2 
			 Staging International Sports Events October 2001 5.00 TSO 2 
			 Tourism—The Hidden Giant—and Foot and Mouth October 2001 4.50 TSO 2.5 
			 Banking on a Hit Report October 2001 Free 4,000 15 
			 Media Ownership Rules Consultation Paper November 2001 Free 2,000 7 
			 Winter Supplementary Estimates November 2001 4.50 TSO 2.5 
			 Lottery Achievements—The First Seven Years December 2001 Free 9,750 28 
			 A Force for Our Future—Historic Environment Statement December 2001 Free 10,000 29 
			 Digital TV—Information for Landlords December 2001 Free 6,000 5.5 
			 Viewers Panel Report December 2001 Free 1,000 5.5 
			 English National Stadium Review December 2001 7.50 TSO 3 
			 CIEPAG—Information Leaflet January 2002 Free 1,000 1.1 
			 Spring Supplementary Estimates February 2002 5.00 TSO 1.9 
			 Export of Works of Art 2000–01 Report February 2002 21.00 TSO 12.3 
			 Unpicking the Lock February 2002 4.00 TSO 1.7 
			 Biennial Conservation Report March 2002 Free 2,000 (87)15 
			 Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites 1999–2000 Report March 2002 Free 1,000 6 
			 A Safe Bet for Success—Modernising Britain's Gambling Laws March 2002 13.50 TSO 12 
			 Testing the Waters—The Sport of Swimming March 2002 4.50 TSO 1.7 
			 Lottery Funded—National Lottery Leaflet April 2002 Free 600,000 11 
		
	
	(87) Paid by English Heritage

HOME DEPARTMENT

Crime (Romford)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the level of violent crime in Romford.

John Denham: The information available relates to the borough of Havering as a whole, where there were 3,337 offences of violence recorded by the police in 2000–01. This total included 158 sexual offences and 392 robberies.

Vandalism

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what projects his Department is supporting to combat vandalism in suburban areas.

John Denham: We are employing a range of measures to combat vandalism. The work of the crime and disorder partnerships, set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, in formulating local strategies for the reduction of crime and disorder in their area is crucial in securing local commitment to effective action against vandalism.
	Closed circuit television (CCTV) is an effective way to detect and reduce vandalism. Under the crime reduction programme CCTV initiative a potential £170 million has been allocated to 683 CCTV schemes in England and Wales. We introduced neighbourhood wardens and street wardens in suburban areas where they have reduced vandalism. Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts have also been successfully employed to combat vandalism.
	The Youth Justice Board has a number of schemes, which focus on the problems of criminal damage such as the Artscape-graffiti Outreach Project, the Youth Inclusion Programme and from next year the Community Payback Scheme. Funding of £13.5 million has been allocated to March 2003 for the Youth Inclusion Programme.

Vandalism

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further guidance he intends to issue to (a) local authorities and (b) police forces to (i) deal with and (ii) reduce the numbers of instances of disorder and vandalism.

John Denham: Important guidance for local crime and disorder reduction partnerships on how to deal with anti-social behaviour was issued in January last year in the form of a comprehensive toolkit posted on the Home Office Crime Reduction website which will be kept updated. The Government are also currently providing assistance to all partnerships on the drawing up of their local crime strategies, due by April 2002. Partnerships are required to address the anti-social behaviour problems in their area and have been asked to identify a named person in each local authority district to co-ordinate action on anti-social behaviour.
	We also want to see partnerships make use of the full range of measures available to them, such as Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, to deal with these problems. Our extensive review of ASBOs will be published shortly and we are currently proposing further legislative changes in order to streamline the process of applying for ASBOs and extend the circumstances in which they may be granted, to help ensure that local crime and disorder reduction partnerships make maximum use of this measure.

Robbery

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of robbery there were in each police force area in (a) 1998–99 and (b) 2000–01; what the percentage change between the two periods was; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: The requested information is given in the table.
	We are determined to reduce the number of robberies across the country as a whole. That is why we have given five metropolitan forces, including the Metropolitan police, an additional £20 million specifically to assist their efforts in tackling robbery, and have set them the challenging target of a 14 per cent. reduction of robbery in our principal cities by March 2005. We are working with those forces, as well as progressing an extensive robbery research programme, to enable us to identify good practice in tackling robbery which we will ensure is disseminated to all forces.
	A research study, "Mobile phone theft" (by Victoria Harrington and Pat Mayhew, Home Office Research Study 235) has recently been published. Based on data from those forces which noted whether a recorded robbery involved a mobile phone, the study shows that there was an increase in the proportion of robberies involving mobile phones, from about 8 per cent. in 1998–99 to about 28 per cent. in 2000–01. Also, from robberies in four police Basic Command Units in the first quarter of 2001, the study estimated that in 23 per cent. of mobile phone robberies, victims were using their phone or had it on display.
	We are working with the police and the mobile phone industry to reduce mobile phone robbery, undertaking public awareness campaigns and joint tracking exercises. The phone operators are testing ways of putting stolen phones out of action. They have also agreed to improve security as they invest in new systems. We are pressing the handset manufacturers for similar commitments.
	A start has been made, but more needs to be done before Britain's mobile phone system can lead the world in security. The mobile phone industry needs to show more interest in the security of phones they are selling to British consumers and, as the motor industry has done, do more to prevent their customers from becoming the victims of crime.
	
		Robberies recorded by the police
		
			   Year ending:  
			 Police force March 1999 March 2001 Percentage change 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 1,831 2,765 51 
			 Bedfordshire 530 663 25 
			 Cambridgeshire 437 539 23 
			 Cheshire 397 486 22 
			 Cleveland 908 932 3 
			 Cumbria 119 94 -21 
			 Derbyshire 504 773 53 
			 Devon and Cornwall 462 452 -2 
			 Dorset 205 309 51 
			 Durham 172 231 34 
			 Essex 523 700 (88)22 
			 Gloucestershire 273 363 33 
			 Greater Manchester 7,632 9,918 30 
			 Hampshire 588 794 35 
			 Hertfordshire 250 508 (88)64 
			 Humberside 839 999 19 
			 Kent 712 1,000 40 
			 Lancashire 982 1,224 25 
			 Leicestershire 967 1,067 10 
			 Lincolnshire 149 191 28 
			 London City of 29 53 83 
			 Merseyside 2,484 2,405 -3 
			 Metropolitan Police 26,330 40,992 (88)57 
			 Norfolk 220 330 50 
			 Northamptonshire 443 604 36 
			 Northumbria 1,347 1,381 3 
			 North Yorkshire 170 186 9 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,312 2,050 56 
			 South Yorkshire 979 1,438 47 
			 Staffordshire 509 796 56 
			 Suffolk 140 177 26 
			 Surrey 171 456 (88)64 
			 Sussex 939 1,241 32 
			 Thames Valley 1,327 2,147 62 
			 Warwickshire 170 252 48 
			 West Mercia 351 423 21 
			 West Midlands 7,315 11,351 55 
			 West Yorkshire 3,072 3,781 23 
			 Wiltshire 195 193 -1 
			 Dyfed-Powys 42 23 -45 
			 Gwent 173 244 41 
			 North Wales 127 163 28 
			 South Wales 511 460 -10 
			  
			 England and Wales 66,836 95,154 42 
		
	
	(88) There was a boundary change between the Metropolitan police and Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey on 1 April 2000. the percentage change given for these forces is an estimate of the change which would have occurred had their boundaries remained constant during this period.

Nuisance Calls

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department is conducting in respect of nuisance calls.

John Denham: Information on nuisance calls derived from the British Crime Survey (BCS) was published in Home Office Research and Planning Unit paper no. 84 "Obscene, threatening and other troublesome telephone calls to Women in England and Wales: 1982–1992". Results from the 1982 and 1992 sweeps of the BCS indicated that 8 per cent. and 7 per cent. of women aged 16 or over had suffered from one or more obscene call in the course of 1981 and 1991 respectively. This information was derived from special questions included in the BCS for those years.
	In 1998 the BCS included a computerised self-completion questionnaire on stalking. Respondents who said that they had suffered such unwanted attention and were also asked whether they had received silent phone calls from the person involved and whether they had received obscene phone calls. Findings of this analysis were published in a Home Office Research Study 210, "The extent and nature of stalking: findings from the 1998 British Crime Survey" which has been deposited in the Library.
	A recent study which examined 167 protection from harassment cases provides further information though recorded accounts about the characteristics of each case and how it was processed through the Criminal Justice System. The study identified several different types of behaviours which constituted harassment, including making obscene and silent telephone calls. Findings of this analysis were published in a Home Office Research Study 203, "An evaluation of the use and effectiveness of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997" which has been deposited in the Library.
	The BCS 2002 questionnaire asks respondents who use a mobile phone whether they have received in the last 12 months voice or text messages on their mobile phone which they consider offensive, or harassment.

Working Conditions and Practices

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are employed in his Department on a job share contract; and what percentage of vacant positions was advertised on this basis in the last 12 months.

Angela Eagle: Job sharing is only one of a number of alternative and flexible working patterns that employees are welcome to take up. The flexibility of the pattern is decided in conjunction with local management to suit an individuals need and the needs of their work. For example, 11 per cent. of staff work part-time in a range of ways from reduced days per week to working alternate weeks. 38 staff are currently recorded as being job sharers in the Home Office, United Kingdom Passport Service and Forensic Science Service. Information on staff in the Prison Service who are job sharers is not held centrally and could not be provided without disproportionate costs.
	It is Home Office policy (including the Prison Service) to advertise jobs as being open to part-timers or job sharers unless there is an operational reason for not doing so. Information on the percentage of posts advertised to job sharers is set out in the table.
	
		Vacancies advertised over the last 12 months to 31 December 2001
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 Home Office(89) 95.8 
			 United Kingdom Passport Service 91.9 
			 Prison Service (90)— 
			 Forensic Science Service (91)— 
		
	
	(89) Period of advertising 26 April-31 December 2001.
	(90) Information not available.
	(91) In the Forensic Science Service (FSS) part-time work is readily available without the need to find job share partners.
	We are currently establishing a database to assist staff to find job-share partners. We have also volunteered to participate in the similar Cabinet Office cross-Whitehall scheme that they are setting up.

Metropolitan Police (Retirement Age)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will permit serving Metropolitan police officers with specialist anti-terrorist-related skills to extend their service in the force beyond the age of 60 as an exceptional measure.

John Denham: Under the Police Pensions Regulations the compulsory retirement age ranges from 55 for constables and sergeants to 65 for those above the superintending ranks outside the Metropolitan police area. An officer's retirement on grounds of age is already subject to flexibility in that it can be postponed by up to five years at the discretion of the chief officer or the police authority, depending on the officer's rank.

Publicity Expenditure

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the total real terms expenditure of his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on publicity in each of the years (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02 (i) to date and (ii) as estimated for the whole of the present year; and if he will break these figures down to indicate expenditure on (A) advertising and (B) press and public relations.

Angela Eagle: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Ministerial Boxes

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what means ministerial boxes are conveyed from private offices in his Department to (a) himself and (b) his Ministers; how frequently and at what expense private courier firms are employed for such a task; and which courier firms have been used for such duties.

Angela Eagle: Ministerial boxes originating from this Department are transported to Ministers' homes either by Government car or by a service provided by the Royal Mail. Where exceptional circumstances require it, a courier service may be used.

Capita Group

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the contracts that have been awarded to the Capita Group by the Department.

Angela Eagle: The list of contracts awarded to the Capita Group by the Home Department since 1997 is as follows:
	Project type
	Capita 1
	Designing and Managing Building Projects
	Capita EC
	Environment/Space Planning
	Capita Business Service
	Recruitment of General Managers
	Capita Training
	Conferences and Training
	Capita Business Service
	Consultancy Support
	Capita Business Service
	Productions of Purchase Manual Efficiency Review
	Capita Business Service
	Her Majesty's Prison Blakenhurst Bid Team
	Capita Business Service
	Quantum Project
	Capita
	Criminal Records Bureau
	Capita
	Recruitment
	Capita
	Recruitment
	1 Advisory contracts for which Capita was not the prime contractor.

Parental Leave Directive

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the (a) financial costs and (b) benefits to his Department of the Parental Leave Directive.

Angela Eagle: Parental leave is available to all Home Office staff as one of a number of policies designed to help staff achieve their preferred balance between work and home. These include paid and unpaid maternity leave, paid paternity leave, career breaks, paid and unpaid special leave and a range of flexible and alternative working patterns. As an unpaid entitlement the costs of parental leave to the Department is minimal.
	The Home Office is committed to helping staff balance their work and home life and as an employer recognises that work/life balance policies have significant business benefits including: improved recruitment and retention of staff; reduced absenteeism and a happier and therefore more productive work force.

Domestic Violence

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what domestic violence perpetrator programmes and linked partner support services are provided in the London probation area.

Beverley Hughes: The central area currently has four groups running per week and a women's support service is provided. In the north-west of London current provision is by the Domestic Violence Intervention Project, and the south-east, south-west and north-east areas are piloting the Domestic Violence Pathfinder programme delivering Duluth. The programme for perpetrators is known as 'Duluth'. It gets its title from the programme under development in Duluth in Minnesota, in the United States of America. A multi-agency programme runs in conjunction with support services to women and involves close networking with police, the Probation Service, Social Services, voluntary agencies and any other appropriate organisations. The programme is 24 weeks long and involves pre and post group work. It is currently running in West Yorkshire and London as a pathfinder project and is currently subject to an evaluation process allied to a research programme concerning the issues around domestic violence.

Speed Cameras

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many convictions for speeding were obtained as a result of evidence from speed cameras in (a) South Tyneside, (b) the north-east and (c) the United Kingdom in 2001;
	(2)  how many speed cameras there are in (a) South Tyneside, (b) the north-east and (c) the United Kingdom.

John Denham: The available information on the number of convictions and fixed penalty notices issued for the offence of "speeding detected by camera device" for 2000 is shown in the table. Statistics for 2001 are not yet available. It is not possible from the data collected to identify South Tyneside and there are no central records to indicate the number of speed cameras in operation in England and Wales. However, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) estimates that there are about 4,500 speeding camera sites in England and Wales. Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland (Mrs. Liddell) and Northern Ireland (Dr. John Reid).
	
		Prosecutions and fixed penalty notices paid for the offence of speeding detected by camera device(92), in 2000 -- Number of offences
		
			  Prosecutions Fixed penalties paid 
		
		
			 South Tyneside (93)— (93)— 
			 North East Region(94) 10,800 38,500 
			 Total England and Wales 109,200 624,300 
		
	
	(92) Offences under Sections 16, 81, 84, 86, 88, 89 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
	(93) Not available
	(94) Region covers Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police forces—source Office for National Statistics.

Speed Cameras

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been prosecuted as a result of speed camera evidence in each year since 1997 broken down by (a) police force area and (b) local authority area.

Keith Bradley: Information on the number of prosecutions for speeding as a result of camera evidence, by police force area, is shown in the table. Data are not available by local authority area.
	
		Prosecutions at magistrate courts for speeding offences detected by camera by police force area 1997 to 2000 -- Number of offences
		
			   1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 2,186 2,997 1,607 1,660 
			 Bedfordshire 1,436 3,518 1,536 1,861 
			 Cambridgeshire 2,661 1,553 1,280 800 
			 Cheshire — 361 405 2,280 
			 Cleveland 263 576 586 376 
			 Cumbria 1 32 82 87 
			 Derbyshire 1,097 1,416 1,366 950 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2,880 2,684 2,848 3,353 
			 Dorset 241 446 473 471 
			 Durham — 12 96 3,745 
			 Essex 951 1,808 2,231 3,060 
			 Gloucestershire 793 586 289 315 
			 Greater Manchester 2,659 4,355 13,442 16,405 
			 Hampshire — — 508 1,035 
			 Hertfordshire 121 108 485 1,330 
			 Humberside 253 338 695 1,513 
			 Kent 82 296 368 84 
			 Lancashire 539 935 1,105 978 
			 Leicestershire 97 1,193 641 597 
			 Lincolnshire — 580 1,229 1,703 
			 London, City of — — — 6 
			 Merseyside 3,528 9,477 8,450 5,156 
			 Metropolitan police 8,297 2,983 2,749 5,522 
			 Norfolk 25 60 62 23 
			 Northamptonshire — — 857 6,548 
			 Northumbria 1,141 1,168 1,737 6,662 
			 North Yorkshire — 1 32 13 
			 Nottinghamshire 73 263 508 546 
			 South Yorkshire 174 240 219 273 
			 Staffordshire 366 779 1,160 5,821 
			 Suffolk — 158 38 132 
			 Surrey 145 124 196 2,353 
			 Sussex 2,292 2,093 2,087 2,018 
			 Thames Valley 2,761 2,943 860 1,118 
			 Warwickshire — — 1,069 2,161 
			 West Mercia — 186 195 210 
			 West Midlands 7,424 13,430 5,790 2,043 
			 West Yorkshire 2,067 2,342 1,886 1,172 
			 Wiltshire 2,674 3,497 4,220 2,440 
			  
			 Total England 47,227 63,538 63,387 86,820 
			 Dyfed Powys — — 35 1,359 
			 Gwent — — 10,035 11,421 
			 North Wales — — 1,024 8,351 
			 South Wales 819 1,534 1,115 1,206 
			  
			 Total Wales 819 1,534 12,209 22,337 
			  
			 Total England & Wales 48,046 65,072 75,596 109,157

Speed Cameras

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how much net income police forces have received from speed camera fines in each year since 1997 broken down by police force area;
	(2)  what the aggregate revenue from speed camera fines has been in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) local authority area.

John Denham: Available information on aggregate revenue is given in the table. This shows the total number of fixed penalties and court proceedings for speeding offences detected by camera from 1997 to 2000. This information is not available by local authority area and to provide a breakdown by police force area would be possible only at disproportionate cost.
	
		Fixed penalty and court proceeding data for offences of speeding detected by cameras(95),(96) for England and Wales, 1997 to 2000
		
			   Fixed penalties Court proceedings  
			   Number of tickets(97) Estimated revenue(98) £ Number of fines Total amount of fine £ Average fine £ 
		
		
			 1997 288,600 11,544,000 20,800 1,912,200 92 
			 1998 338,800 13,552,000 25,500 2,928,300 115 
			 1999 423,000 16,920,000 32,300 3,434,400 106 
			 2000 624,300 24,972,200 31,800 3,400,000 107 
		
	
	(95) Automatic cameras until 1998, all camera types from 1999.
	(96) Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
	(97) Paid i.e no further action.
	(98) Estimate based on £40 fixed penalty charge from 1997 to 2000.
	All revenue from speeding offences is normally paid to Her Majesty's Treasury. But since April 2000, seven partnership areas in England and Wales have been piloting a new netting-off scheme. The partnerships comprise police forces, local authorities, highways authorities and magistrates courts. The scheme allows fixed penalty fine revenue from speed and red-light traffic cameras to be re-invested to meet the costs of camera enforcement. Money left over goes, as before, to Her Majesty's Treasury.
	Set out is the amount of netted off income each of the seven police forces in the pilot scheme received, for the financial year 2000–01.
	
		
			 Police force Netted-off income received £ 
		
		
			 Cleveland 385,280 
			 Essex 1,309,032 
			 Lincolnshire 328,390 
			 Northamptonshire 1,159,907 
			 Nottinghamshire 211,419 
			 South Wales 534,905 
			 Thames Valley 1,400,457 
			  
			 Total 5,329,390

Bootlegging

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions have resulted from fuel bootlegging in each of the last five years.

Paul Boateng: I have been asked to reply.
	Customs central records do not differentiate between the type of fraud or smuggling involved in their successful prosecutions in the road fuel sector across the whole of the UK.
	However, Customs do hold records centrally of the successful prosecutions for road fuel smuggling specifically in Northern Ireland and I provided these in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) on 21 November 2001, Official Report, column 266W.

Sex Offenders

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what plans he has to extend treatment of sex offenders in prison;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of treatment provided to convicted sex offenders.

Beverley Hughes: The Prison Service provides five versions of the sex offender treatment programme, that have been independently accredited as likely to be effective in reducing reconviction: a core programme; an extended programme (for high risk sex offenders); an adapted programme (for sex offenders with learning difficulties); a booster (for those that have completed other versions of the programme and are nearing release); and rolling (for low risk sex offenders).
	The Service's present and coming targets for completions by prisoners of versions of the programme are 1,020 for the current year, 950 for 2002–03 and 1,240 for 2003–04.
	Versions of the programme are currently delivered in 25 prisons; this is planned to rise to 27 prisons in 2002–03 and 28 in 2003–04.
	The Prison Service studies rates of reconviction to assess the effectiveness of the programme. Matched cohorts of programme graduates and untreated offenders are compared.
	Offenders included in the cohorts need to have completed their sentences and have been at liberty in the community for at least two years. It has therefore been possible to complete only one substantial study so far. In that, the treatment group was of 647 offenders treated between 1992 and 1996, and the comparison group 1,910 offenders. The study indicated reductions in treated group reconviction rates of between one and 10 per cent., depending on level of risk.
	Many more studies will be needed over a much longer period before firm conclusions can safely be drawn about the efficacy of the programme. Independent assessments of aspects of the programme and of the reconviction studies will also be carried out.

Police Spending

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 481W, on police spending, what the average per capita spending in 2001–02 is in (a) the Thames Valley Police Force area and (b) Aylesbury Vale police area.

John Denham: The gross cost of policing on an average per capita basis in the Thames Valley area in 2001–02 is estimated at £126.20. A figure at the Aylesbury Vale area level is not available.
	Source for calculating the average per capita basis: The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Police Statistics (Estimates) 2001–02.

Drink Driving

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of breath tests resulted in arrest for drink driving in December (a) 2001 and (b) 2000.

John Denham: 8.2 per cent. of screening breath tests carried out in December 2000 in England and Wales were positive or refused, compared with 7.4 per cent. in December 1999.
	Statistics for 2001 will be published in the autumn.

Police Recruitment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which applicants to join the police service are classified as recruits.

John Denham: holding answer 25 March 2002
	Applicants to the police service are classified as recruits when they take up appointment with a police force.
	For the purposes of the Home Office statistical bulletins on Police Service Strength, "recruits" covers officers joining the police service, including those transferring from forces outside England and Wales, but not those transferring from other forces within England and Wales.

World Cup

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his cooperation with the Governments of Japan and South Korea on their deportation processes during the World Cup finals.

John Denham: holding answer 25 March 2002
	We are involved in the most extensive co-operation with the Japanese and Korean police and civil authorities in preparation for the World Cup. The police in both countries have assured us that, where individuals have been detained, they will consider prosecution prior to deportation.

Football Hooliganism

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions his Department is having with football clubs on crowd misbehaviour.

John Denham: holding answer 25 March 2002
	We work closely with the police, football authorities and football clubs in order to ensure that crowd misbehaviour is addressed and offenders are identified and prosecuted. An extensive array of legislation is in place for tackling football related disorder and the Government expect the police and courts to make full use of the powers that have been placed at their disposal.

Community Wardens

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community wardens will be employed in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in the next financial year.

John Denham: holding answer 25 March 2002
	Twenty-six central Government-funded Street Wardens will be employed in Lancashire in the next financial year. Ten will be in Morecambe, nine in Hyndburn, five in Preston and two in Burnley. Sixteen central Government- funded neighbourhood wardens will be employed in Lancashire in the next financial year. Six will be in Burnley, six in Skelmersdale and four in Wyre. No bid was received for central Government-funded neighbourhood or street wardens in Chorley.

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the business strategy and business model developed for the effective use of IT by the National Probation Service.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	"A New Choreography: an Integrated Strategy for the National Probation Service for England and Wales", published in August 2001, sets out the vision for the National Probation Service over the next three years. The information technology strategy is to design and develop a system which fully supports the business needs of the Service enabling it to meet the aims and objectives as set out in "A New Choreography".

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources are available to implement the National Probation Service's IT strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	For financial year 2002–03 a provisional budget of £34.65 million has been allocated to information technology within the Home Office National Probation Directorate. This figure is part funded by the recovery of £16 million from probation areas (question 254 refers).
	For financial years 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 the total information technology requirement of £34 million, £35 million, and £36 million respectively will be found from the overall National Probation Service budget.

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how recharging arrangements are being negotiated for the National Probation Service's IT desktop services.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The current contract with Integris centralises the cost of the information technology (IT) provision for the National Probation Service (NPS). Prior to 1 January 2002 the IT provision through the National Probation Service Information System Strategy (NPSISS) contract was met through a mixture of central service costs and area payments to the supplier for IT maintenance. The recharging arrangements for 2002–03 exist to realign the NPS budget to meet the costs where they now fall due.

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by the National Probation Service Directorate to direct human resources policies needed to attract, retain and develop staff to deliver IT capabilities.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The National Probation Directorate has recently administered an external recruitment scheme which selected nine new members of staff in key positions for the Information and Technology Group.
	The recruitment and retention of IT staff in local probation areas is the responsibility of each individual local area.

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if an outsourcing contract has been signed for the Probation Service's IT; and how the scope and costs of the technology upgrade has been determined.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	On 26 October 2001, following an open competition, the Home Office signed a 2 and a half year interim contract, on behalf of the National Probation Directorate, for the support and maintenance of the Information Technology infrastructure and the case record management system (CRAMS) with Integris.
	An upgrade of the infrastructure forms a vital part of this contract. This technology upgrade will include the replacement of old hardware and the revision of all software to currently maintained versions. The equipment for the technology upgrade was procured via a separate competitive tender using G-CAT suppliers after an assessment had been made of market rates to ensure best value for money.

Official Visits

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in his Department in 2001, giving for each (a) the origin and destination and (b) the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits.

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State on 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 421W.

Criminal Records Bureau

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many umbrella bodies have registered with the Criminal Records Bureau; how many of them are open to take registrations from outside their own membership; and if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of arrangements in covering the registration need of the voluntary sector.

John Denham: holding answer 26 March 2002
	We have been determined that employers and voluntary organisations wishing to use the service to be provided by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) will have a ready means of access. To meet the needs of those employers and organisations which do not wish to register with the Bureau in their own right, we have encouraged others to consider acting on their behalf, as umbrella bodies, and we shall continue to do so. Up to 21 March 2002, a total of 704 umbrella bodies had registered with the CRB. Of these, 419 organisations had indicated that they are prepared to countersign applications from employers or organisations outside their own circle or sector. A list is available from the CRB on request, and information is also available on the CRB website, www.disclosure.gov.uk.

Prison Population

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the data for women are not disaggregated in Table 6 of the Prison Population Brief for England and Wales, January 2002; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 26 March 2002
	Table six of the Prison Population Brief deals with receptions into prison establishments. Female prisoners currently account for 7.8 per cent. of all receptions into prisons and 5.9 per cent. of the total prison population. For this reason we have up to now stated the total number of female receptions while providing a more detailed analysis of the male population.
	However, the data are readily available and I have arranged for future briefs to include more analysis of the data on women.

Drug Treatment and Testing Orders

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug treatment and testing orders have so far been issued.

Bob Ainsworth: Between 1 October 2000, when the Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO) was rolled-out to courts in England and Wales, and 31 January 2002, which is the latest month for which complete figures are available, 5,188 Orders were made.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the PSA target to increase by 10 per cent. the number of offenders dealt with for supply offences in respect of Class A drugs was met.

Bob Ainsworth: holding answer 9 April 2002
	Data on seizures and offenders is published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin: "Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom". Figures are by calendar year. Data for the year 1999 by comparison to 1998 were published in 2001.
	This data show that the number of persons dealt with for supply offences (possession with intent to supply unlawfully, unlawful supply and import/export) involving class A drugs rose by 17.5 per cent. between 1998 and 1999, well above the target of 10 per cent. In fact subsequent data received by the Home Office after publication of the statistics, indicates that the increase was greater still—around 19.8 per cent. These revised figures will be published in the next edition of the bulletin for the year 2000 which will be published shortly.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for the rate of positive results from mandatory random drugs tests will be met by March.

Bob Ainsworth: The Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) target set following Spending Review 2000 was to reduce the rate of positive results from random mandatory drug tests (MDT) from 20 per cent. in 1998–99 to 10 per cent. by 31 March 2004.
	MDT data are collected and reported monthly. The interim target set for achievement by 31 March 2002 was a rate of positive results of 12 per cent. The latest available year to date figures run to the end of February 2002 and show a positive rate of 11.5 per cent. Data for the last three months are provisional.
	The target that the Prison Service has been set for achievement by 31 March 2003 is a rate of positive results of 10 per cent. or lower, which brings forward the SDA target by one year.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target of a reduction of three percentage points in the proportion of arrestees testing positive for heroin and/or cocaine/crack will be met by December.

Bob Ainsworth: The commitment "to achieve a reduction of three percentage points in the proportion of arrestees testing positive for heroin and/or cocaine/crack from the 1999–2000 half-baseline" is a drugs strategy target for 2002 under the Communities objective, as set out in the United Kingdom Anti-drugs Co-ordinator's Second National Plan.
	Information on progress against this target, derived from data from the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, will not be available until the autumn of 2002.
	The target contributes, with other measures, towards delivery of the current Public Service Agreement (PSA) target "to reduce levels of repeat offending among drug misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008)".
	We are currently reviewing the drugs strategy targets and progress on them, to ensure we still have the right balance and focus.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the PSA target to increase class A drugs prevented and seized by 10 per cent. has been met.

Bob Ainsworth: Data on seizures and offenders is published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin: "Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom". Figures are by calendar year. Data for the year 1999 by comparison to 1998 were published in 2001.
	The data published in 2001 showed that the number of seizures within the United Kingdom involving class A drugs increased by 4.3 per cent. in 1999, against the target set of 10 per cent. However, subsequent data received by the Home Office after publication indicated that the number of seizures within the United Kingdom involving class A drugs had in fact increased by 7.3 per cent. This revised figure will be published in the next edition of the bulletin for the year 2000, which will be published shortly.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target that all police services should operate face-to-face referral schemes covering all custody suites will be met by March.

Bob Ainsworth: Face-to-face arrest referral schemes were operating in 41 out of 43 police forces as at end February with an estimated 95 per cent. coverage of custody suites by arrest referral workers. These were funded by the Crime Reduction Programme, under the Joint Funding Initiative. All forces will be operating face-to-face arrest referral schemes by the end of April 2002.

Young Offenders (Sentencing)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the time from arrest of persistent young offenders to their sentencing will be down to 71 days by March.

Beverley Hughes: In 1996, dealing with a persistent young offender took an average of 142 days. We have reached our target of halving this to 71 days. In the last two quarters the number of days was 70 and 68 respectively. This shows what can be achieved with good local and national co-ordination and a determined focus on achieving the objective. We will continue our work to ensure that this progress is maintained.

Entertainment Costs

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years.

David Blunkett: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Catering Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of (a) in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by his Department in each of the last four years.

Angela Eagle: The following subsidy costs were paid for the Home Office's main central London buildings for the last four financial years.
	
		Costs for catering subsidy
		
			   £000 
		
		
			 2001–02 218 
			 2000–01 229 
			 1999–2000 219 
			 1998–99 161 
		
	
	The costs are expected to reduce to £180,000 in 2002–03.

Electronic Tagging

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what performance penalties have been imposed on contractors providing electronic monitoring services in the last 12 months; and for each occasion what the (a) reason for and (b) amount of the penalty was.

Beverley Hughes: In the 12 months from February 2001 to January 2002, a total of £141,286.70 was deducted from the payments made to the electronic monitoring contractors in respect of performance measures. The performance measurement system assesses performance across a range of indicators including response times for installing and removing equipment, and making telephone calls and visits in respect of alleged breaches of the curfew requirement.

Police Pay (Advertisements)

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of the advertisements in national newspapers relating to his police pay proposals.

John Denham: holding answer 1 March 2002
	The advertising cost was £30,002, which included both production and media costs.

Police Pensions

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of each local authority's police budget (a) was accounted for by police pensions in 1997 and (b) will be accounted for by police pensions in (i) 2002 and (ii) 2008.

John Denham: Figures for police pensions as a proportion of net expenditure in 1997–98 are set out in the table. Figures for 2002–03 and 2008–09 are not available.
	
		
			 Police authority Percentage 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 15.62 
			 Bedfordshire 11.55 
			 Cambridgeshire 11.88 
			 Cheshire 11.13 
			 City of London 12.71 
			 Cleveland 10.94 
			 Cumbria 12.77 
			 Derbyshire 12.79 
			 Devon and Cornwall 13.53 
			 Dorset 13.03 
			 Durham 16.49 
			 Dyfed Powys 12.01 
			 Essex 10.59 
			 Gloucestershire 13.17 
			 Greater Manchester 16.50 
			 Gwent 11.64 
			 Hampshire 9.55 
			 Hertfordshire 9.52 
			 Humberside 13.19 
			 Kent 11.28 
			 Lancashire 14.17 
			 Leicestershire 11.90 
			 Lincolnshire 13.84 
			 Merseyside 14.93 
			 Metropolitan police 11.39 
			 Norfolk 13.20 
			 North Wales 13.58 
			 North Yorkshire 14.47 
			 Northamptonshire 12.43 
			 Northumbria 15.42 
			 Nottinghamshire 13.74 
			 South Wales 17.61 
			 South Yorkshire 12.12 
			 Staffordshire 17.30 
			 Suffolk 13.25 
			 Surrey 13.66 
			 Sussex 13.29 
			 Thames Valley 9.83 
			 Warwickshire 13.92 
			 West Mercia 11.01 
			 West Midlands 12.24 
			 West Yorkshire 12.97 
			 Wiltshire 10.44 
			 Total 12.73 
		
	
	Source:
	Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA): Police statistics [Actuals] 1997–98. The figure for Leicestershire was not available, so the figure from the Police Statistics [Estimates] 1997–98 has been used.

Police Candidates

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many approved police candidates are awaiting their training start date; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: Records are not held centrally for police forces who send their recruits to National Police Training. However, there is no reported backlog of approved candidates waiting to start their training.
	The Metropolitan police has reported that there are no specific delays in successful candidates being assigned to training courses.

Metropolitan Police

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis about intervention in the operational independence of the Metropolitan Police Force; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: holding answer 8 March 2002
	My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, (Sir John Stevens) meet regularly, both formally and informally to discuss a range of issues relating to policing in London.

Special Constables

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables were in service in each police force area in (a) March 1997 and (b) March 2001; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: holding answer 8 March 2002
	The number of serving special constables in each police force area in March 1997 and March 2001 are set out in the table:
	
		
			 Police force March 1997 March 2001 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 759 400 
			 Bedfordshire 182 115 
			 Cambridgeshire 303 218 
			 Cheshire 475 290 
			 Cleveland 160 93 
			 Cumbria 189 156 
			 Derbyshire 428 275 
			 Devon and Cornwall 1,148 796 
			 Dorset 289 267 
			 Durham 184 146 
			 Essex 634 445 
			 Gloucestershire 297 183 
			 Greater Manchester 685 367 
			 Hampshire 621 454 
			 Hertfordshire 297 198 
			 Humberside 340 212 
			 Kent 589 392 
			 Lancashire 483 360 
			 Leicestershire 415 162 
			 Lincolnshire 271 166 
			 London, City of 86 43 
			 Merseyside 401 541 
			 Metropolitan Police 1,714 774 
			 Norfolk 402 259 
			 Northamptonshire 316 188 
			 Northumbria 533 300 
			 North Yorkshire 362 182 
			 Nottinghamshire 620 335 
			 South Yorkshire 308 188 
			 Staffordshire 685 402 
			 Suffolk 379 349 
			 Surrey 297 149 
			 Sussex 472 306 
			 Thames Valley 656 418 
			 Warwickshire 381 221 
			 West Mercia 582 399 
			 West Midlands 945 617 
			 West Yorkshire 690 415 
			 Wiltshire 154 152 
			 Dyfed Powys 283 191 
			 Gwent 157 137 
			 North Wales 341 207 
			 South Wales 361 254 
		
	
	Source:
	Figures provided by Research Development Statistics Directorate.
	The Government are committed to increasing the size of the Special Constabulary and is working on a number of options designed to achieve this. These include improvements to the recruitment, training, conditions, management and deployment of specials—focusing their role on intelligence-led, high visibility patrolling and local crime reduction initiatives.

Women Prisoners

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision is made for mothers who are in prison to have regular access to their children.

Beverley Hughes: The Prison Service provides the necessary facilities for mothers in prison to ensure that they can sustain a relationship with their children, including regular access. Many of these facilities are available to both male and female prisoners, but have a particular benefit to those that are mothers.
	On their initial reception at an establishment, women are given a phonecard at the prison's expense or a free telephone call so that they can immediately let their families know their whereabouts. Subsequently they are allowed to purchase phonecards from the prison shop to maintain that contact. Every woman is able to send a free letter on arrival at an establishment and subsequently is allowed to send a letter at the prison's expense every two weeks. Prison staff can assist prisoners in dealing with these letters.
	Visits and family contact are encouraged and every effort is made to emphasise the role that can be played by the prisoner in parenting and sharing the responsibility for the family in general. Governors often provide extra facilities for children's visits and, where resources allow, find new ways in which they can assist prisoners to maintain links with their families. For example, where staffing resources permit, some establishments hold family days where children can visit their mothers for a whole day, share meals and participate in other structured activities for families, for example in the gymnasium or education areas.
	In certain cases, families may apply for financial assistance to visit their relatives in prison through the services offered by the Assisted Prison Visits Unit.
	Prisoners are also enabled to maintain family ties through Release on Temporary Licence. Prisoners may be released on resettlement licence once they have served the requisite period of their sentence and passed a risk assessment. Resettlement leave is usually overnight and can be of up to five days' duration plus travelling time. Prisoners can also be released on compassionate licence. For example, a mother may be granted a compassionate licence to visit her child if the child is unable to visit her.
	Mothers are allowed to have their babies with them in prison and at present, there are 64 places spread between four prisons in specialist Mother and Baby Units. There are plans for four more units. The purpose of a Mother and Baby Unit is to enable the mother/baby relationship to develop while safeguarding and promoting the child's welfare. There is an established procedure of admissions boards, assessment and review, involving outside experts. Throughout the whole process the best interests of the child is the guiding principle.

Women Prisoners

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women prisoners (a) have committed suicide in the last year and (b) are on suicide watch.

Beverley Hughes: In the year 2001 there were a total of six self-inflicted deaths by women.
	Her Majesty's Prison Service does not collect data specifically on "suicide watch". If a prisoner is considered at risk of suicide or any form of self-injury a form called an F2052SH is opened. This form initiates a sequence of events to make sure the inmate is cared for. This includes ensuring the prisoner is engaged in conversation at regular intervals, and holding individual case reviews in consultation with health care and other staff. The form remains open until the prisoner appears to coping satisfactorily.
	The table shows the total number of F2052SH forms raised in 2001 for female prisoners and the length of time the form was open.
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Under 1 week 1,876 
			 1 to 2 weeks 1,092 
			 2 to 4 weeks 837 
			 Over 4 weeks 912 
			  
			 Total 4,717

Women Prisoners

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of women prisoners were diagnosed with mental health problems in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and what provision is made available for mental healthcare in women's prisons.

Beverley Hughes: This information is not available in the form requested. A survey of mental ill health in the prison population of England and Wales, was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics in 1997. Some 96 per cent. of remanded and 90 per cent. of sentenced women prisoners showed evidence of at least one of the five mental disorders considered in the survey (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence).
	Women prisoners needing in-patient treatment for mental disorder may be transferred to psychiatric hospitals. The care and treatment of prisoners with mental health problems is shared between the Prison Service and the national health service (NHS). Our plans for improving mental health services for prisoners, including the development of NHS in-reach services in the 70 or so prisons with the greatest mental health need, were set out in "Changing the Outlook. A Strategy for Developing and Modernising Mental Health Services in Prisons", which was published in December 2001. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library. The text of the document is also available on the prison health section of the Department of Health website at www.doh.gov.uk/ prisonhealth. Since the strategy document was published it has been announced that NHS in-reach services will be established in 25 more prisons, including three for women, during 2002–03.

Women Prisoners

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the female population is in prison (a) in the UK and (b) in other EU countries.

Beverley Hughes: The female prison population in England and Wales on 31 January 2002 was 4,056. This was 0.019 per cent. of the general female population aged 15 and over in England and Wales (21.9 Million). Data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are not held centrally.
	The female prison and general population data for other European Union (EU) countries is given for the latest available dates.
	
		
			   General female population aged 15 and over Female prison population Percentage 
		
		
			 Ireland 1,906,000 91 0.005 
			 Finland 2,649,000 143 0.005 
			 France 29,725,000 1,670 0.006 
			 Denmark 2,679,000 164 0.006 
			 Sweden 4,482,000 290 0.006 
			 Belgium 5,233,000 356 0.007 
			 Italy 29,389,000 2,246 0.008 
			 Greece 5,324,000 425 0.008 
			 Germany 41,531,000 3,570 0.009 
			 Luxembourg 218,000 20 0.009 
			 Norway 1,588,000 148 0.009 
			 Austria 4,104,000 407 0.010 
			 Netherlands 7,884,000 803 0.010 
			 Spain 20,124,000 4,066 0.020 
			 Portugal 5,185,000 1,097 0.021 
		
	
	Data on the female population of EU countries are taken from the EU Labour force survey 2000. Data for the female prison population of EU countries are taken from the world prison population list produced by Kings College London.

Dangerous Weapons

Candy Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there were for possession of dangerous weapons in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Beverley Hughes: The available information for 1999 and 2000 is contained in the table and relates to convictions for offences of possession of offensive weapons, knives, firearms or explosives.
	Information on court proceedings for 2001 will be available in the autumn.
	
		Persons convicted(99) at all courts of offences of possession of dangerous weapons, England and Wales 1999 and 2000
		
			Persons convicted  
			 Offence description Statute 1999 2000(100) 
		
		
			 (See footnote (3) for definition of Firearm Groups)
			 
			 Possession etc. of explosives with intent to endanger life Explosives Substances Act 1883, section 3 (in part) — — 
			 
			 Possession of firearms etc., with intent to endanger life (Group I) Firearms Act 1968. Section 16 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(2) 87 60 
			 
			 Possession of firearms etc. with intent to endanger life (Group II) Firearms Act 1968, section 16 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972 section 28(2) 2 1 
			 
			 Possession of firearms etc. with intent to endanger life (Group III) Firearms Act 1968, section 16 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972 section 28(2) 11 3 
			 
			 Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or reasonable excuse Prevention of Crime Act 1953, section 1 4,123 4,064 
			 
			 Possessing firearms or imitation firearm at time of committing or being arrested for an offence specified in schedule 1 of the Act (Group I) Firearms Act 1968, section 17(2) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) 36 49 
			 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm at time of committing or being arrested for an offence specified in schedule 1 of the Act (Group II) Firearms Act 1968, section 17(2) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) 2 1 
			 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm at time of committing or being arrested for an offence specified in schedule 1 of the Act (Group III) Firearms Act 1968, section 17(2) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) 3 3 
			 Possessing firearms or imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence or resist arrest etc. (Group I) Firearms Act 1968, section 18(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) 55 65 
			 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, or resist arrest etc. (Group II) Firearms Act 1968, section 18(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) — — 
			 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, or resist arrest etc. (Group III) Firearms Act 1968, section 18(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972, section 28(3) 2 4 
			   
			 Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence (Group I) Firearms Act 1968, section 16A. (As amended by Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994) 218 279 
			 
			 Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence (Group II) Firearms Act 1968, section 16A. (As amended by Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994) 12 1 
			 
			 Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence (Group III) Firearms Act 1968, section 16A. (As amended by Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994) 35 20 
			 
			 Having an article with a blade or point in a public place Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 139 3,832 3,487 
			 
			 Having an article with a blade or point on school premises Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 139 A(1) as added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 section 4(1) 16 44 
			 
			 Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or reasonable excuse on school premises Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 139(2) as added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 section 4(1) 20 11 
			 
			 Possessing etc. firearms or ammunition without firearm certificate (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 1(1)(Group I) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157, schedule 8 part III 264 216 
			 
			 Possessing etc. shotgun without certificate (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 2(1)(Group II) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 107 94 
			 
			 Possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 5(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 812 721 
			 
			 Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc. (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 19 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 63 49 
			 
			 Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc. (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 19 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 21 17 
			 
			 Trespassing with firearm or imitation firearm in a building (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 20(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 3 1 
			 
			 Trespassing with firearm or imitation firearm in a building (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 20(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III — — 
			 
			 Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 21(4) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 79 66 
			 
			 Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 21(4) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 12 15 
			 
			 Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime (Group III) Firearms Act 1968 section 21(4) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 157 schedule 8 part III 47 36 
			 
			 Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc. (Group III) Firearms Act 1968 section 19 176 170 
			 
			 Trespassing with firearm in a building (Group III Firearms Act 1968 section 20(1) — 3 
			 Trespassing with firearm on land, (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 20(2) 13 12 
			 
			 Trespassing with firearm on land, (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 20(2) 3 — 
			 
			 Trespassing with firearm on land, (Group III) Firearms Act 1968 section 20(2) 23 18 
			 
			 Person under 14 having firearm in his possession, without lawful authority, (Group I) Firearms Act 1968 section 22(2) 1 — 
			 
			 Person under 15 having with him a shot gun without adult supervision, (Group II) Firearms Act 1968 section 22(3) — — 
			 
			 Person under 14 having with him an air weapon or ammunition therefor (Group III) Firearms Act 1968 section 22(4) 12 16 
			 
			 Person under 17 having with him an air weapon in a public place Firearms Act 1968 section 22(5) 54 52 
			 
			 Total all offences  9,844 9,578 
		
	
	(99) Figures provided are on the principal offence basis.
	(100) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data these data are not robust at a detailed level and have been excluded from this table.
	(101) For the purposes of recording offences, firearms are divided into the following three groups:
	Group I—All firearms etc. other than those described in Group II and III.
	Group II-Shot guns as defined in section 1(3)(1) of the Act.
	Group III—Air weapons as defined in section 1(3)(b) of the Act.

Territorial Forces

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff in his Department are members of the territorial forces; and if he has a strategy to encourage members of staff to become members of the territorial forces.

Angela Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally.
	Staff in the Home Office (including the Prison Service) who are members of, or who intend to join, the reserve forces are granted up to eight days special leave for the purpose.
	The Home Office is the lead Government Department for the active community initiative. Staff can take paid leave for volunteering in certain public capacities (e.g. school governors up to six days, magistrates up to 18 days). Staff can also take up to five days paid leave a year for any other voluntary activity.
	A Volunteering Manager has recently been appointed, seconded from the voluntary sector, actively to promote volunteering among Home Office staff, ensure that a wide range of opportunities is available, monitor participation and evaluate the benefits to the individual and the Department.

Road Traffic Penalties

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to bring forward proposals arising from the road traffic penalties review.

John Denham: We are currently in the process of formulating the Government's response to the consultation exercise on road traffic penalties. We hope to publish this soon.
	This report has taken some time to complete due to the high number of responses we received. We have also been waiting for the outcome of the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions commissioned research project into the law on dangerous driving by the Transport Research Laboratory. The publication of this report was delayed until January 2002 and we are now considering its findings.

Sonja Ojerholm

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in the case of the appeal lodged by Sonja Ojerholm against the refusal of permanent settlement in the UK, he will state the date on which the first copy of the appeal papers was dispatched by the British Consulate General in Los Angeles and received by his Department, the date on which the second copy of the appeal papers was dispatched by the British Consulate and received by his Department and the date his Department submitted the explanatory statement to the Appellate Authority.

Angela Eagle: holding answer 18 March 2002
	The appeal papers were first dispatched by the British Consulate in Los Angeles on 7 September 2001. These papers were received by the Home Office on 6 November 2001, but were misfiled. A second copy of the appeal papers was faxed by the British Consulate on 14 January 2002. The case is now awaiting the production of an explanatory statement.

Prison Officers

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he defines prison officers as members of the emergency services.

Beverley Hughes: The prison service is defined as a discipline service, not an emergency service. Emergency service status is reserved for those services available to respond to emergency 999 calls.

Prison Officers

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what London allowance is paid to prison officers working at London prisons.

Beverley Hughes: London allowance is paid by way of a local pay allowance to all Prison Service staff at sites in London and around the south-east. The annual rates payable from 1 January 2002 at the following sites are:
	£3,500 rate—Brixton, Wandsworth, Holloway, Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs, Feltham, Huntercombe, Headquarters Westminster.
	£2,300 rate—Belmarsh, Latchmere House, Downview, Highdown, Send, The Mount, Coldingley, Aylesbury, Headquarters Croydon.
	£1,000 rate—Reading, Woodhill, Bullingdon, Grendon/Spring Hill, Chelmsford, Bullwood Hall and Bedford.

Wandsworth Prison

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) plans he has and (b) funding has been allocated for the refurbishment and rebuilding of E Wing at Wandsworth prison.

Beverley Hughes: E wing at Wandsworth prison is included in the Prison Service's Safer Cell Programme and the work on site was funded and planned to start this September. Owing to population pressures at the prison, and across the penal estate, this work is to be held in abeyance temporarily to enable E wing to remain in use. There is, however, to be no reduction on the focus of Wandsworth prison as one of the five safer local pilot sites. A re-ordering of the overall programme will result in work being carried out on reception first, then on health care with the work to E Wing following later. Should the population pressures still be such that the capital work in E Wing cannot go forward, some safer custody initiatives will still be undertaken.

Wandsworth Prison

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total prison budget is for Wandsworth prison in the current year; and what total allocated funding has been made available to the prison in each of the last five years.

Beverley Hughes: The present budget for Wandsworth prison for the financial year 2001–02, which is expressed in resource accounting terms, is for £24.184 million resource and £0.204 million capital spending within Departmental Expenditure Limits.
	The final budgets for the previous five years, which were allocated as cash budgets, were:
	
		£ million 
		
			   Current Capital Total 
		
		
			 1996–97 18.850 0.165 19.015 
			 1997–98 19.984 0.339 20.323 
			 1998–99 21.627 0.194 21.821 
			 1999–2000 22.397 0.294 22.691 
			 2000–01 22.434 0.113 22.547 
		
	
	The capital budgets do not include major capital investment projects undertaken during this period for the refurbishment or replacement of existing facilities, which have been funded through the central building programme.

Wandsworth Prison

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacancies there are for prison officers in Wandsworth Prison; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 14 March 2002, Official Report, column 1223W.

Asylum Seekers

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what arrangements have been made for local authorities to be compensated for additional costs incurred as a result of the announcement of possible sites for accommodation centres;
	(2)  what additional resources are given to local authorities to meet additional calls on their services resulting from the presence of asylum seekers.

Angela Eagle: We expect that, nationally, accommodation centres will reduce the burden on local authorities due to the range of facilities provided on site. This includes education for children and adults, and primary healthcare facilities. We will, however, take funding considerations into account as we continue to develop our policy.

Driving Offences

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been in each of the last five years for offences of causing (a) dangerous and (b) careless driving on motorways.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 19 March 2002
	Information on prosecutions collected centrally does not distinguish the classification of road on which the offence took place.

Criminal Damage

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost has been of criminal damage to his Department's buildings in each of the last four years.

Angela Eagle: Central records of the occurrences or cost of criminal damage to the Home Office buildings are not kept and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Creche Facilities

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what creche facilities are provided by his Department; and at what cost.

Angela Eagle: The Department provides 146 nursery places for children under the age of five years. These places are available to Home Office staff (including the agencies) at a variety of locations. In addition to these facilities the Forensic Science Service runs a Childcare Support Scheme which provides staff with the opportunity to receive a contribution towards professional child care.
	In addition around 1,250 days of school holiday provision are provided throughout the Department in the form of play schemes for children aged between five and 12 years.
	These arrangements involve a subsidy to the parent of up to 50 per cent. of the contractual running costs depending on local circumstances. The cost to the Department for providing these facilities is approximately £435,000 per year, depending on take up of the places available.

Design Champion

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 14 March 2002, Official Report, column 1223W, on the design champion, which two projects within the Department's remit the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Angela Eagle), sponsored in her role as the Department's design champion.

Angela Eagle: Officials are currently working on an action plan to deliver the Home Office commitment to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's Better Public Buildings Initiative. Selection of projects to sponsor is a matter currently under consideration, and I will make these known in the very near future.

Irish Terrorist Murders

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress in the police investigations into the murders of (a) Airey Neave MP and (b) Ian Gow MP.

John Denham: holding answer 20 March 2002
	The investigation into any crime is, in the first instance a matter for the Chief Constable/Commissioner of the force concerned. I understand, however, that up to now there has been no firm evidence to establish responsibility for these murders. Should any new information or intelligence be received then this will be investigated immediately.

Correspondence

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date his Department sent to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs correspondence from the hon. Member for Aylesbury dated 6 September 2001 (ref. PO 17699/1).

Angela Eagle: holding answer 21 March 2002
	Departmental records show that this correspondence was sent to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for a reply on 10 October 2001.

West Mercia Police

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new recruits to West Mercia police transferred from other police forces in (a) 1998, (b) 1999, (c) 2000 and (d) 2001.

Bob Ainsworth: The information has been provided by the Chief Constable and is for each calendar year.
	
		
			  Year(102) Number of transfers from other police forces 
		
		
			 1998 2 
			 1999 0 
			 2000 24 
			 2001 52 
		
	
	(102) Figures are for period 1 January to 31 December.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Small Business

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the sources of regulations that affect small business.

Nigel Griffiths: United Kingdom, European Union and local government legislation are the main sources of regulation that affect small business. There are also a significant number of regulations that come from outside Government, for example from professional bodies and institutions.

Motor Sport

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what support the Government are giving to the motor sport industry in the current financial year; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  which individuals in the UK motor sport industry have had discussions with her Department about possible Government financial assistance;
	(3)  on what grounds the UK motor sport industry qualifies for Government assistance; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  what financial assistance has been provided to the UK motor sport industry in each of the last 20 years.

Patricia Hewitt: DTI has been involved in discussions with the Motorsport Industry Association, several Regional Development Agencies and industry on an industry-led performance engineering and motorsport strategy.
	The group is examining plans to develop a motorsport and performance engineering cluster development programme, based on organising business networking and education and skills events and activities.
	There has been no direct funding of the motorsport industry in this financial year or in previous years. Companies in the motorsport industry (which primarily comprises a range of niche engineering SMEs) are subject to the same criteria as companies in other sectors to qualify for any form of Government support.

MOX Fuel

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what type of processing BNFL plans to undertake on the faulty MOX fuel supplied to Japan.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 26 March 2002
	The fuel will be placed in a storage pond at Sellafield. BNFL has yet to decide finally what to do with the fuel. Whatever it decides will be in accordance with all necessary regulatory approvals.

MOX Fuel

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will ensure that there are no additional transports of radioactive material to Sellafield before October 2002, with particular reference to the return of the faulty MOX fuel which BNFL supplied to Japan.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 26 March 2002
	No. It is a matter of public knowledge that there will continue to be routine transports to Sellafield of spent fuel from Europe in fulfilment of existing reprocessing contracts and also that BNFL aims to return to Sellafield the MOX fuel currently at Takahama in Japan as soon as practicable—possibly during the course of this year. The Government has made this position clear both to the Irish Government and to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. These transports do not take place as a consequence of the commissioning and operation of the Sellafield MOX Plant.

MOX Fuel

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the necessary domestic regulatory approvals are which British Nuclear Fuels must obtain before it can return the MOX fuel it has supplied to Japan in respect of which data had been falsified; and whether these approvals have been granted.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 26 March 2002
	BNFL must obtain the approval of the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions for the shipment and the transport package in which the fuel will be transported; the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate must be satisfied with the safety of BNFL's arrangements for the receipt, handling and storage of the fuel on the Sellafield site. BNFL has satisfied these requirements. The Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) must approve the arrangements for the security of the fuel in transport and its security once received at Sellafield. OCNS has approved the security arrangements for the fuel once received at the Sellafield site. The arrangements for the security of the fuel in transport are subject to ongoing consultation between BNFL and OCNS and transport will not commence until OCNS has granted formal regulatory approval for all of the detailed security plans.

Sellafield

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent report she has received in respect of the state of (a) concrete and (b) steel structures at the reactor at Sellafield where the fire took place in 1957.

Brian Wilson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has not received any recent reports about the concrete or steel structures in Windscale Pile One.

Sellafield

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response she has received from the Atomic Energy Authority, regarding the review which has been undertaken in respect of the reactor at Sellafield where the fire took place in 1957.

Brian Wilson: The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has initiated a comprehensive technical review of the second stage decommissioning of Windscale Pile One. This review is on-going, and is likely to take several years to complete. UKAEA and the regulator, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the HSE, will need to be satisfied with the final proposal for decommissioning before the project progresses and will ensure the reactor remains in a safe and stable condition throughout.

Sellafield

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what efforts have been made towards establishing a decommissioning strategy for the reactor known as Pile 2 reactor at Sellafield.

Brian Wilson: All the fuel was removed from the Windscale Pile Two reactor soon after it was shut down in 1957. Since then it has been maintained in a safe and passive state of care and maintenance, pending decommissioning and dismantling at a later stage.
	The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is currently discussing a strategy for the future management of Pile Two with the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the HSE. The current plan is to decommission and dismantle the reactor in 2040–50.

Nuclear Power Stations

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will establish a liabilities management agency to manage the closing down and decommissioning of old nuclear power stations.

Brian Wilson: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry made clear in her statement to the House on 28 November 2001, Official Report, column 990, the establishment of the liabilities management authority (LMA) will require primary legislation. A Bill will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Nuclear Safety

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will ask Her Majesty's Chief Nuclear Inspector to review the adequacy of the nuclear installations inspectorate's safety assessment principles numbers 126 and 127 in respect of aircraft crashes.

Brian Wilson: No. HSE keeps its safety assessment principles for nuclear plants under review as a matter of course. These principles provide a robust framework for regulatory decisions by the HSE's nuclear installations inspectorate (NII). NII's regulatory assessments also take into account current relevant knowledge.

Nuclear Safety

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent funding her Department has provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency's programme to combat nuclear terrorism and protect nuclear materials; what additional resources have been made available to strengthen physical protection measures at United Kingdom nuclear facilities since 11 September 2001; and if she will make a statement on the work done by the International Physical Protection Advisory Service.

Brian Wilson: On 18 March 2002, the UK Governor announced at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting a £250,000 voluntary contribution to the IAEA's Protection Against Nuclear Terrorism fund.
	No additional resources have been made available to the UK nuclear industry to strengthen physical protection measures at civil nuclear sites since 11 September 2001. Costs for security are met by the site licensees.
	The IAEA's International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) provides member states with advice on their legal and regulatory infrastructure and the implementation of physical protection arrangements. At the request of an IAEA member state, the IAEA convenes an international team of specialists experienced in the physical protection of nuclear material to review the requesting member state's physical protection system and compare it to international guidelines and internationally recognised best practices. Based on this review, the team provides the member state, in confidence, with recommendations for improvements and recognises current good practices already instituted by that State. IPPAS missions have been conducted in eastern/central Europe, Africa, South America and SE Asia. The UK has led three of these missions and participated in a number of others.

Vickers OMC

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers the Government have to prevent Vickers Defence Systems' South African subsidiary Vickers OMC from entering into a joint venture with Indian company Tata Engineering to produce Casspir armoured personnel carriers in India.

Brian Wilson: The Casspir mine protected vehicle is a product of Vickers OMC of South Africa. Any proposed joint venture to produce the vehicle in India is a matter for the South African and Indian Governments.

Vickers OMC

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will answer the written parliamentary question from the hon. Member for Banbury of 27 February on Vickers Defence Systems' South African subsidiary.

Brian Wilson: I have replied today.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what end-use documentation was provided with the export licence application from Hunting Engineering for the export of the BL755 cluster munitions (Batch No. 82529); and if she will make a statement on discussions her Department has had with the manufacturer and the Government in the original country of destination regarding the (a) diversion and (b) re-export of the original transfer to Ethiopia.

Nigel Griffiths: Information on end use documentation provided in support of an export licence application is confidential and exempt from disclosure under Part 2, Sections 1, 13 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	The Department of Trade & Industry's Export Control Organisation maintains regular contact with exporters on a range of export control issues. Discussions with individual exporters on such issues are confidential and exempt from disclosure under Part 2, Sections 1, 13 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	No discussions with overseas Governments have as yet taken place with regard to their possible re-export of this particular item, since it is not yet clear whether any country might have re-exported these items to Ethiopia.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what export licences were granted between 1972 and 1989 for the export of BL755 cluster munitions (Batch No. 62529); and if she will provide the (a) number of cluster munitions exported, (b) category codes, and (c) final end-use destination;
	(2)  what export licences were granted between 1972 and 1989 for the export of cluster munitions; and if she will provide (a) the number of cluster munitions exported, (b) category codes and (c) final end-use destination;
	(3)  what export licences were granted for the export of BL755 cluster munitions to Ethiopia between 1972 and 1989; and if she will provide the (a) number of cluster munitions exported, (b) category codes and (c) final end-use destination;
	(4)  what export licences were granted for the export of BL755 cluster munitions to Israel between 1972 and 1989; and if she will provide the (a) number of cluster munitions exported, (b) category codes and (c) final end-use destination;
	(5)  what export licences were granted between 1972 and 1989 for the export of BL755 cluster munitions; and if she will provide the (a) number of cluster munitions exported, (b) category codes and (c) final end-use destination.

Nigel Griffiths: Previous administrations have not considered it appropriate to publish information on individual licensing decisions. This information is not held centrally, and a manual search of all the case files would incur disproportionate cost.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if an export licence is required for the refurbishment, and subsequent re-export, of cluster munitions.

Nigel Griffiths: An export licence is required from the Department of Trade and Industry's Export Control Organisation to export cluster munitions, controlled under entries ML3 and ML4 in Part III of Schedule 1 of the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994, as amended, from the UK.

Cluster Munitions

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will describe the end-use procedures in place to monitor and prevent the re-export and proliferation of British supplied cluster munitions.

Ben Bradshaw: I have been asked to reply.
	There are no end-use controls applied specifically to exports of this equipment. Our overseas posts have standing instructions to report on allegations of misuse of any UK-origin defence equipment to take into account in the licensing process. We focus our efforts on assessment of potential end-use at the export licensing stage. Carrying out effective risk assessment on end-users before making the export licensing decision is the surest way to prevent UK arms falling into the wrong hands. We will not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the equipment for export could be used for internal repression or international aggression, or where there is an unacceptable risk of diversion to an undesirable end-user.
	In determining whether any such risk exists, we take into account all reliable information on proposed end-use and end-users of potential concern, including reporting from our overseas posts, other countries and non- governmental organisations. We are pursuing improved information sharing with like-minded countries through the EU and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
	The Government remain committed to carrying out end-use monitoring in those circumstances where this will genuinely add value to our efforts to minimise the risk of misuse and diversion and where such monitoring is practicable. The Government have the legal power to revoke export licences in the event of substantive misuse or diversion.

Administration Procedure

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in how many cases the administration procedure was initiated by (a) company directors and (b) creditors in (i) 1998, (ii) 1999, (iii) 2000 and (iv) 2001.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 25 March 2002
	This information is not available. Administration is an insolvency procedure which is initiated by the presentation of a petition to court. The requirements for information regarding the company's financial affairs and prospects in support of such a petition mean that very few are presented other than by the company concerned.

Broadband

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance is being received from the EU in pursuit of expanded broadband access in the UK.

Douglas Alexander: The Lisbon Summit on Economic Reform in 2000 launched work on the eEurope Action Plan, which reprioritises all EU and national policies, assistance and support, in order to help increase access to the internet. The European Council meeting in Barcelona on 15–16 March concluded that the next phase of the eEurope strategy should give priority to the widespread availability of broadband networks throughout the EU. The ways in which the EU and the member states can support and assist this objective in the period to 2005 will be set out in a new eEurope Action Plan, to be presented to the Seville European Council in June.
	The following websites of the European Commission set out the activities covered by the eEurope Action Plan, and list sources of EU assistance for information and communications technology:
	http://www.europa.eu.int/informationsociety/eeurope/ indexen.htm
	http://europa.eu.int/informationsociety/programmes/ indexen.htm

World Bank

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the consequences for British international investors of the decision of the World Bank's Ad Hoc Committee to uphold the arbitration award of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in favour of WENA Hotels against the Government of Egypt; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 12 March 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on Tuesday 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 869W.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings (a) she and (b) her officials attended, and which meetings are scheduled, for discussion of GATS.

Patricia Hewitt: My ministerial colleagues and I and my officials regularly meet with a wide range of organisations (NGOs, trade unions, business, academics, the European Commission, other EU member states, other WTO Members, intergovernmental organisations and others) at which the current World Trade Organisation negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services are often discussed.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what services the United Kingdom (a) as part of the European Union and (b) unilaterally will be requesting from other states under the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services.

Patricia Hewitt: The United Kingdom negotiates in the World Trade Organisation as part of the European Union. Liberalisation requests are still being formulated. The EU's broad objectives are set out in negotiating proposals already tabled in the WTO and available publicly.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the commitments already made under the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services.

Patricia Hewitt: Commitments already made by WTO members under the General Agreement on Trade in Services generally reflect, or are less than, the existing levels of market access prevailing at the time of the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. The United Kingdom maintains very few restrictions in its GATS schedule of commitments.
	The full range of GATS commitments can be found on the WTO website at www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/ serv_commitments_e.htm.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how she estimates the full implementation of the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services will affect public services in the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The General Agreement on Trade in Services permits World Trade Organisation members to define and maintain their own public services, and does not require them to make liberalising commitments where they choose not to.

Miners' Pensions

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if an asset liability study has been carried out by (a) the Mineworkers Pension Schemes and (b) the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Brian Wilson: Yes. The Trustees of both schemes commissioned asset and liability modelling studies last year.

Miners' Compensation

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 671W, on miners' compensation, what performance and quality targets are given to Healthcall to secure delivery of accurate reports within acceptable time scales.

Brian Wilson: Healthcall should provide a fit for purpose report within 28 days of an assessment.

Miners' Compensation

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how she will ensure that claims for special damages from mineworkers suffering from vibration white finger are settled rapidly.

Brian Wilson: The main outstanding issue concerns claims for "services" which compensates those who need additional assistance in carrying out household tasks. The pilot to progress these claims has been completed and the Department is currently working closely with the claimants' solicitors in reviewing the results. All parties concerned are interested in settling claims as soon as possible.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how existing multilateral environmental agreements will be incorporated into the new trade round.

Patricia Hewitt: Under paragraph 31 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, WTO Members agree to negotiations on the relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and to procedures for regular information exchange between MEA Secretariats and the relevant WTO Committees. These negotiations will take place in the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment meeting in special session.
	The EU tabled a paper exploring this important issue at the first meeting of the Committee on Trade and Environment since Doha several weeks ago. This will shortly be available on the WTO website at www.wto.org

Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings she has had with (a) DEFRA and (b) the Sustainable Development Commission to discuss the impact of multilateral environmental agreements on current trade negotiations.

Patricia Hewitt: I liaised closely with the Minister of State for Environment on this issue during the fourth Ministerial meeting in Doha last November and my Department works very closely with all interested Departments, particularly DEFRA on the relationship between multilateral environmental agreements and World Trade Organisation Rules. I have not discussed this particular issue with the Sustainable Development Commission.

European Directives

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many European regulations and directives affecting businesses were implemented in the last calendar year; and what assessment she has made of what the total cost of their implementation was on business.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 26 March 2002
	The Department was responsible for 92 regulations introduced in the calendar year from 1 March 2001. Of these regulations 71 imposed negligible or no costs on business and 11 have saved costs.
	Records relating to the origin of regulations are not held centrally. The information requested could be obtained and collated only at disproportionate cost.
	All Government Departments and agencies are required to produce regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) for proposed regulations that could impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector. This is the case for legislation emanating from Europe. Copies of all RIAs are published and are available from the Libraries of the House.

Export Credit Assistance

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if it is possible for companies receiving ECGD assistance for their involvement in a project, to subcontract work to other companies without affecting their agreement with the ECGD.

Patricia Hewitt: Yes, companies in receipt of ECGD support are free to subcontract work to others, but under the terms of that support they must remain responsible for the overall performance of the contract, and for any failures by their subcontractors. This responsibility includes ensuring compliance with any environmental, social, financial, or other covenants and pre-conditions specified by ECGD.

Export Credit Assistance

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list by name and location the fossil fuel power projects that the ECGD has approved for support, but which have not yet been built.

Patricia Hewitt: There are seven cases that ECGD has supported which are still under construction. These projects are as follows:
	
		
			 Project name Country Fuel type 
		
		
			 Shandong China Coal 
			 Manjung Malaysia Coal 
			 Afsin-Elbistan Turkey Coal 
			 Nantong China Coal 
			 Blackpoint Hong Kong Gas 
			 Ghubrah Oman Oil 
			 San Pedro Dominican Republic Oil 
		
	
	In addition, ECGD has provided Overseas Investment Insurance support for one case which is under construction but details are commercial in confidence.

Export Credit Assistance

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which UK companies have received ECGD services since 1997 for contracts involving fossil fuel power transmission in the energy sector, in (a) Thailand and (b) the Philippines; and what projects are involved.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has not supported any export contracts involving fossil fuel power transmission since 1997 in Thailand and the Philippines. However, support was provided for an overseas investment insurance case, which is not disclosed, since such cases are treated as commercial in confidence.

Urban Post Office Network

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department lodged an application with the European Commission for permission to use state aid to subsidise the urban post office network.

Douglas Alexander: A notification was made to the European Commission on 27 March relating to the proposed programme of reinvention of the urban post office network.

Postal Charges

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what annual revenue would accrue from a one pence increase in the price of (a) first and (b) second class stamps; if Consignia plans to increase postal charges; and if she will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: Increases in the prices of first and second class stamps require the approval of Postcomm. The company estimates that an increase of one pence on both first and second class stamps would generate additional income of £170 million over the financial year.

Postal Services

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she had made of the costs and benefits of Postcomm's proposals to bring in market opening in postal services in advance of other EU member states.

Douglas Alexander: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Geraldine Smith) on 26 March 2002, Official Report, column 803W.

Bank Holidays

Tony McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she next intends to review the pattern of bank holidays in England and Wales.

Alan Johnson: There are no current plans to review the existing bank holiday arrangements.

Bank Holidays

Tony McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will maintain 2002 arrangements under which the spring bank holiday falls on the first Monday in June for future years.

Alan Johnson: Changes that were made to existing bank holiday arrangements in 2002 as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations will not be maintained in future years and the spring bank holiday will revert to the last Monday in May in 2003.

Bank Holidays

Tony McWalter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the implications for the length of school terms when deciding bank holiday dates.

Alan Johnson: The timing of school terms is the responsibility of local education authorities, who were consulted on the one-off bank holiday arrangements for the forthcoming Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Supermarket Competition

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list recommendations received from the Meat and Livestock Commission and other bodies designed to improve competition in the supermarket sector, stating for each (a) from whom received and when and (b) what action is (i) planned and (ii) in place to implement such recommendations.

Melanie Johnson: The Department of Trade and Industry has not received any such recommendations. However, evidence from the Meat and Livestock Commission and a number of other bodies was considered by the Competition Commission in their investigation into the supply of groceries from supermarkets. Views of interested parties are listed primarily in Chapters 14 and 15 of the Commission's report "Supermarkets: A report on the supply of groceries from multiple stores in the United Kingdom", Cm 4842, published October 2000).

Doha

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement in respect of UK involvement in the follow up to Doha.

Patricia Hewitt: We are working hard to implement all of our commitments in respect of the Doha Ministerial Declaration together with our European partners and other WTO members.

ADSL Lines

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the (a) provision of ADSL lines in Wales and (b) future development of that provision.

Douglas Alexander: ADSL is not the only technology for the delivery of broadband, and a map showing availability of broadband including cable modem services is contained in the UK Online annual report (December 2001) and has been placed in the Libraries of the House. I have recently challenged BT to extend ADSL coverage within the United Kingdom.

Social Chapter

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the total cost to business of the Social Chapter since it was implemented; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: European directives adopted as a result of the Social Chapter for which my Department is responsible are parental leave, part-time work, the European works councils, the fixed term contract, information and consultation of employees and the working time (excluded sectors) directives. The directive on the burden of proof in sex discrimination is the responsibility of the Women and Equality Unit at Cabinet Office.
	I refer the hon. Member to answer given on 26 March 2002, Official Report, columns 807–809, which gave the costs of the regulations implementing the parental leave, part-time work and the European works councils directives.
	The fixed term contract, information and consultation of employees and the working time (excluded sectors) directives have not yet been implemented. Estimated costs for the fixed term contract directive are to be found in the consultation document URN 02/547 published in January 2002 and estimated costs for the Information and Consultation of Employees were attached to the Explanatory Memorandum 13099–98 of 15 January 1999. Both documents are in the Library of the House. A regulatory impact assessment for the working time directive (excluded sectors) will be prepared prior to going out to consultation on the implementing regulations next year.
	The regulatory impact assessment to the burden of proof directive in Sex Discrimination (Council Directive 97/80/EC) is also available in the Libraries of the House.

Dog and Cat Fur

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has made to European Commissioner Byrne regarding his proposed ban on the import into the EU of domestic dog and cat fur; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Commission, like the UK Government are aware of some concerns on animal welfare grounds of the import into the EU of domestic cat and dog fur. We understand there are presently no Commission proposals to ban these products. The UK Government, as my noble Friend the Minister for Trade said in a statement to the Lords and in a letter to all Members of Parliament last November, has undertaken to explore the current situation in the UK before considering the issue on the grounds of what is practical, proportionate and enforceable.

Wind Farm (Cefn Croes)

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many letters her Department received (a) in favour of and (b) opposing the decision on developing a wind farm site at Cefn Croes in Wales.

Brian Wilson: Pursuant to the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990, the Department received the following:
	Letters of objection—257
	Petitions against—586 signatures
	Letters of support—106
	Petitions for—215 signatures.
	In addition to the above, over 750 letters of objection and three letters of support were received after the period allowed for pursuant to the regulations.

Polyester Film Products

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations have been made to the EU on the implications for UK jobs of dumping of polyester film products by Indian manufacturers.

Patricia Hewitt: My Department has received no recent representations from UK industry on this matter, and have made no recent representations to the European Commission. European Community definitive anti- dumping measures were imposed on imports of polyester film from India on 24 August 2001.

Chapelcross Power Station

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the date of decommissioning of Chapelcross power station.

Brian Wilson: I am advised by BNFL that closure of the Chapelcross nuclear power station is currently projected to take place between 2008 and 2010. It is anticipated that decommissioning will begin immediately thereafter.

Structural Funding

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what discussions she has had with the European Commission about the Structural Funds after 2006;
	(2)  what her philosophy is on the underlying principles which will determine EU regional policy after 2006.

Alan Johnson: Although the debate on the future of European cohesion policy post 2006 has started, very few national governments have so far committed themselves to a particular position.
	The next reform of the Structural Funds must ensure that they contribute better to the Lisbon agenda of improving Europe's competitiveness and modernising its economies. I believe that improvements are needed in both the effectiveness of the funds and the means to evaluate their impact and added value. Also, greater efforts must be made to simplify the funds and remove unnecessary bureaucracy, while maintaining proper financial control.
	While my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has not attended any formal discussions with the European Commission on this issue, officials in the Department of Trade and Industry have participated in a number of relevant meetings and events including the Cohesion Forum organised by the Commission in Brussels in May 2001. In addition, I attended the Namur Informal Council on Regional Policy in July of last year. In May of this year officials in the Department will participate in the Commission's seminars on the 10 priorities highlighted in the "Second Cohesion Report" in May.

Accounting Companies

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the extent of competition between accounting companies; and if she will refer to the competition authorities the five largest firms which operate in the United Kingdom.

Melanie Johnson: Under UK competition legislation, the Director General of Fair Trading is responsible for monitoring markets and considering allegations of anti competitive behaviour. The Director General is best placed to consider these issues.

Petrol Prices

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the average figures for European unleaded petrol in each country of the EU in price per litre, with the amount of tax paid and the percentage of tax this represents.

Brian Wilson: The latest available information for unleaded petrol prices and taxes is for December 2001 and is shown in the table.
	
		European unleaded petrol prices -- Prices as at mid-December 2001Pence per litre(103)
		
			   Pump price Amount of tax Tax component per cent. 
		
		
			 Austria 56.19 41.19 73 
			 Belgium 61.61 45.38 74 
			 Denmark 58.18 44.79 77 
			 Finland 41.35 24.88 60 
			 France 45.36 29.29 65 
			 Germany 58.75 45.20 77 
			 Greece 49.34 29.82 60 
			 Ireland 61.33 43.81 71 
			 Italy 43.82 27.76 63 
			 Luxembourg 65.05 48.09 74 
			 Netherlands 50.99 34.21 67 
			 Portugal 56.58 26.15 46 
			 Spain 63.93 46.22 72 
			 Sweden 56.71 41.19 73 
			 United Kingdom 69.27 56.14 81 
		
	
	(103) Prices converted to pounds sterling using mid-December exchange rates.
	Source:
	European Commission Oil Bulletin

Electronic Procurement

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the result is of the scoping study for the delivery of electronic procurement.

Patricia Hewitt: The scoping study took account of developments in the IT market and recommended some interim steps to be taken as part of developing a way forward on e-procurement within the Department. The Department is now involved in an e-procurement pilot with OGC which is due to conclude at the end of June.

Science Enterprise Challenge Scheme

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many spin-outs in the university sector have been created (a) since 1997–98 and (b) in 2001–02 by the Science Enterprise Challenge Scheme.

Patricia Hewitt: The Science Enterprise Challenge was set up to establish a network of centres in UK universities, specialising in the teaching and practice of commercialisation and entrepreneurialism in the field of science and technology. The creation of spin-outs is not an explicit objective. However, in their first two years of operation (period ending September 2001), the centres established under the scheme have provided help and support with the development of over 400 credible business ideas. Over 80 have led to early stage businesses, including both spin-outs and start ups from individuals receiving training or advice from the centres.

University Activities

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the pilot survey due to be conducted in the first quarter of 2001–02 on university exploitation activities.

Patricia Hewitt: The survey is encouraging and shows that the higher education sector is increasing exploitation activities, resulting in more spin-off companies and a higher proportion of research income from business. Creating stronger links between universities and businesses is an important part of improving our economic performance while maintaining excellence in higher education. The results of the survey are informing the Cross-Cutting Review of Science and Research which is being carried out as part of the Spending Review.

Science Citation Index

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what change there has been in UK performance on the Science Citation Index since 1999.

Patricia Hewitt: Data from the Science Citation Index are used as an indicator of the relative quality of the UK Science and Engineering Base in my Department's Public Sector Agreement. The latest calculations show that there has been no change since 1999. Fuller details will be published shortly in my Department's Expenditure Plans report.

Business Performance

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how and by whom is a judgment reached on progress in UK business performance overseas.

Patricia Hewitt: Engaging in international trade is an important element in improving business competitiveness and productivity.
	My Department has an objective, shared with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to enhance the competitiveness of companies in the UK through overseas sales and investments. Information on performance against the PSA target supporting that objective is published annually in the Government Expenditure Plans reports for my Department and British Trade International, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Power Cuts

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many electricity power supply interruptions there were in 2001 per customer; and how many minutes per customer were lost in the same year.

Brian Wilson: In 2000–01, there were 84 electricity supply interruptions per 100 customers. The number of minutes lost was 86 per 100 customers.

Electricity Prices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of how (a) domestic and (b) industrial electricity prices compared with the EU/97 median in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2001.

Brian Wilson: In 2000, average UK domestic electricity prices, including taxes, were 9.5 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median based upon data for 11 countries. On an excluding tax basis, the average price in the UK was 14.5 per cent. higher than the EU/G7 median, based upon data for 12 countries.
	In 2000, the UK's price for industrial electricity including taxes, was 1.5 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median based upon data for eight countries. On an excluding tax basis, the price in the UK was 13 per cent. higher than the EU/G7 median, based upon data for nine countries.
	Data for 2001 are not yet available from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Gas Prices

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of how (a) domestic and (b) industrial UK gas prices compared with the EU/97 median in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2001.

Brian Wilson: In 2000, average UK domestic gas prices, including taxes, were 16 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median, based upon data for 13 countries. On an excluding tax basis, the UK price was 2.5 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median, based upon data for 11 countries.
	Average UK industrial gas prices in 2000, including taxes, were 38 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median, based upon data for nine countries. On an excluding tax basis, the price in the UK was 35 per cent. lower than the EU and G7 median based upon data for eight countries.
	Data for 2001 are not yet available from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Benchmarking

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the ranking of the United Kingdom is on the Department's International Benchmarking Study.

Patricia Hewitt: The International Benchmarking Study 2001 was published in October 2001 and is available in the Libraries of the House. The 2002 study is being undertaken at the moment and will be published later this year. The 2001 study showed that the UK continues to be one of a 'leading' group of countries in the general use of e-commerce, along with the US, Canada and Germany. There is no single ranking figure used as the report contains many different facets of e-commerce uptake and development. However in 2001 there was an overall improvement in the UK's relative position against some key indicators—for example:
	Connectivity: UK small and micro businesses now ranked third instead of fifth;
	Trading Online: UK micros up to third from fifth.

National Weights and Measures Laboratory

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the National Weights and Measures Laboratory's total overhead costs were at the end of December 2001 as a percentage of total costs.

Patricia Hewitt: Overhead costs at NWML represent 54.7 per cent. of total costs for the period April to December 2001, against a target of less than 55 per cent.

Companies House

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the percentage unit cost reduction was in real terms on document registration achieved by Companies House in 2000–01; and what she expects the reduction to be in 2001–02.

Melanie Johnson: The percentage for 2000–01 was 7 per cent, as published in the Annual Report and Accounts.
	The corresponding figure for 2001–02 will not be known until the accounts are prepared and audited.

Bankruptcy

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the percentage change was in the unit cost of investigating bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation at December 2001, by comparison with (a) December 2000 and (b) December 1999.

Melanie Johnson: The unit cost of case investigation at December 2001 had (a) decreased by 7.2 per cent. in comparison with December 2000 and (b) decreased by 19.5 per cent. in comparison with December 1999.

Renewable Energy

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources was in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.

Brian Wilson: The percentage of electricity generated in the UK from all renewable sources in 2000 was 2.8 per cent. Detailed renewable energy statistics for 2001 are not yet available, but provisional figures show that large scale hydro schemes provided about 0.8 per cent. of electricity generation in 2001 compared with 1.2 per cent. in 2000. This was because of lower precipitation in Scotland during the winter of 2000–01. However, it is expected that generation from other renewable sources will have increased in 2001.

Transport and Telecommunications Council

Jimmy Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the outcome was of the Transport and Telecommunications Council held in Brussels on 25–26 March; what the Government's stance was on issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The Deputy UK Permanent Representative to the European Union, Bill Stow, attended the Council on 25 March on my behalf.
	There was a Presidency briefing, followed by an exchange of views, on the follow-up to the Barcelona European Council conclusions on the eEurope 2005 Action Plan. There was broad agreement on the importance of third generation mobile and digital television alongside computer-based internet access to deliver broadband services. A UK-led call to focus as much on content as infrastructure, creating demand for broadband services as well as the supply of networks, received the support of six member states. The Commission announced that they aim to have the eEurope 2005 Action Plan ready for the 17 June Telecommunications Council.
	The council adopted general orientations on amendments to the existing decisions on electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA), and the trans-European telecommunications networks (TEN) decision. The Presidency is now expected to pursue informal contacts with the European Parliament to try and secure first reading deals on both dossiers.
	The council adopted a resolution on web accessibility, to encourage member states to implement the Web Accessibility Initiative's (WAI) guidelines in respect of public sector websites, aimed at making it easier for the EU's 37 Million elderly and disabled citizens to access the internet. Social and geographic digital exclusion are likely to feature prominently under the Greek Presidency in the first half of 2003.
	The commission gave a presentation on international governance of the internet, following which member states exchanged views on reform issues under consideration by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)—the private US corporation established to manage the internet domain name system. The council gave a mandate to COREPER to develop a common EU position to be fed into the EU-US Information Society Dialogue and the ongoing discussions of the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) to ICANN.
	Final adoption of the regulation to establish the .eu internet top level domain was among the A points adopted by the council.

Trade Partners UK

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the work of Trade Partners UK in facilitating dialogue between the British Film Council and its counterparts in India.

Patricia Hewitt: Trade Partners UK is in regular contact with the British Film Council, and is helping to develop contacts between the British Film Council and its counterparts in India. The Chief Executive of the British Film Council is a member of the Creative Export Group, one of the Creative Industry Advisory Groups run by Trade Partners UK and DCMS. Trade Partners UK helped to arrange the programme of the Chief Executive and senior colleagues from the British Film Council during their visit to India in March 2002, when they met leading representatives of the Indian film industry and the Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Trade Partners UK is also involved in arranging the programme for an inward mission by top Bollywood producers to the UK in May 2002, in collaboration with the British Film Council and the Manchester Investment and Development Agency Service (MIDAS).

Energy Market

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she is taking to increase consumer protection in the energy market.

Brian Wilson: Gas and electricity consumers are protected by general competition and consumer legislation, including the Doorstep Selling Regulations, which were enhanced in 1998, and the new Distance Selling Regulations, which were introduced in 2000. They are also protected by specific regulations, which are the responsibility of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM). In the Utilities Act 2000, OFGEM was given the principal objective of protecting the interests of consumers. The Act also established the Gas and Electricity Consumer Council (Energywatch) to represent the interests of consumers. OFGEM maintains licence conditions governing the sale and marketing of gas and electricity supply, and has recently given a commitment to extending these for a further two years. Where appropriate, OFGEM takes action against suppliers that breach these conditions. On 1 April, OFGEM introduced new Guaranteed Standards of Performance for gas transporters and electricity distributors.

Energy Market

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry with regard to the European Parliament's First Reading position of 13 March on the proposal for a directive amending Directives 96/92/EC and 98/30/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and natural gas, if she will indicate, with particular regard to the interests of those consumers living in rural areas, the position that she will take in council on the Parliament's Amendment 42 that seeks to strengthen the terms of the universal service (Article 3(3), 96/92/EC).

Brian Wilson: It is a Government priority to bring the benefits of market liberalisation to all consumers, including those living in rural areas. The Government will have this objective in mind when it takes a position on the proposal which the commission will submit to the council in the light of the European Parliament's amendments. Individual amendments are not voted on by the council; rather, the commission presents a revised text which includes those European Parliament amendments which it accepts. I note that Amendment 42 does not mention rural consumers, merely vulnerable consumers.

Regional Development Agencies

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget is for each of the regional development agencies in England; and what it is expressed as a percentage of total identifiable public expenditure in each English region.

Alan Johnson: The allocation of budgets for each regional development agencies for 2001–02 is as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 One North East 162 
			 North West 280 
			 Yorkshire Forward 246 
			 East Midlands 97 
			 West Midlands 170 
			 East of England 62 
			 South East 110 
			 South West 91 
			 London 298 
		
	
	The percentage of total identifiable public expenditure in each English region is highlighted in Table 8.12 of the 'Public Expenditure, Statistical Analyses 2001–02' report.

Mobile Phones

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2002, Official Report, column 561W, on mobile phones, what stage has been reached in discussions between her Department and mobile phone manufacturers on how mobile phone handset security might be improved; and when she estimates such measures will be introduced.

Douglas Alexander: The manufacturers have responded positively to the joint request made by DTI and Home Office Ministers and are co-operating in a study of the current level of security and of plans for the future in this regard. The Home Office will publish this study that is expected to be completed shortly and consideration will then be given as to what action needs to be taken.
	In the meantime, all the UK licensed cellular operators are co-operating to develop a shared register of stolen mobile handsets, which will be used to de-activate those handsets. I welcome this positive initiative by the mobile industry.

Trading Links (Baltic States)

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department is giving to the promotion of trading links between Scotland and the Baltic states.

Nigel Griffiths: Businesses in Scotland can access British Trade International national schemes, such as the trade mission to all three Baltic countries in October 2002. BTI also works with Scottish Development International in highlighting export and investment potential through awareness-raising events, including an EU enlargement event to be held in Glenrothes on 25 April.
	Scotland is an important trading partner for the Baltic states, with much interaction in the forestry sector. A new investment in Riga by a Scottish based timber-processing company, BSW, was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales last November.

Gender Pay Gap

Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans the Government have to commission data on the gender pay gap in Stevenage.

Alan Johnson: The Office for National Statistics publishes data on the gender pay gap in the New Earnings Survey. However, in the case of Stevenage constituency, the data are not sufficiently reliable for publication.
	Current trends in women's individual incomes have been explored in two studies published last year by the Women and Equality Unit (WEU). Copies of these reports are available on the WEU website:
	http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research/ publications/researchandpublications.htm.
	WEU Gender Briefing, which provides statistical briefing on the position of women compared with men in the labour market, is also available on the website: http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research/ gender_briefing/home .htm.
	There are no plans to commission further research into the gender pay gap in Stevenage.

Mair Barnes

Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 28 February 2002, Official Report, column 1486W, if she will list the boards of which Mair Barnes is a non-executive director.

Patricia Hewitt: Mair Barnes is a non-executive director of Scottish Power plc, Patientline plc and the South African retailer Woolworth Holdings Ltd. She is also a director of Minkley Ltd. (Jersey).

Japanese Investment Projects

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Japanese investment projects there were into Britain in (a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000 and (e) 2000–01; what their size was; and how many of those projects were (i) engineering and (ii) manufacturing based.

Nigel Griffiths: The figures provided are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. They are based on the companies' best estimate, at that time, of the number of jobs associated with each investment.
	There is no requirement on companies to notify inward investment decisions to Invest.UK and so the figures include only those projects where Invest.UK or its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice. They are therefore likely to be an underestimate. The number of manufacturing projects notified by year is provided but Invest.UK does not record the number of all engineering projects during the period concerned.
	
		
			  Number of projects Number in manufacturing Total investment £ 
		
		
			 1996–97 43 30 838,729,000 
			 1997–98 59 38 330,510,000 
			 1998–99 43 30 786,227,000 
			 1999–2000 62 28 372,919,000 
			 2000–01 52 24 358,020,000

Regulatory Impact Assessments

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations the Small Business Service has received from the Small Business Council on regulatory impact assessments.

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Business Council is working with the Small Business Service to develop and implement an updated version of the so-called Litmus test, which forms part of the regulatory impact assessment procedure. It has also asked the Small Business Service to analyse the cumulative burden of regulation on small businesses.

Construction Industry

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of employment legislation in the construction industry; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The Government's programme of employment legislation represents a balanced package of measures. The goal is to ensure that the UK has a modern productive workplace for the 21st century and a flexible labour market to be competitive and at the same time ensure minimum standards for workers.
	The Government do evaluate, as far as possible, employment legislation across the economy. However, they have not assessed separately the effectiveness of employment legislation in the construction industry. The effects of new employment legislation on the economy as a whole and the labour market are assessed through the Government's Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) process. Where appropriate these RIAs include an industry based assessment. This is the case where industries are affected to different degrees. The regulatory impact assessments are carried out on each new proposal to evaluate the likely costs and benefits.

Business Links

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) amount and (b) proportion of the DTI's budget has been allocated to support Business Links over the past five years.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The proportion of the DTI's budget that has been allocated to support Business Links over the past five years is:
	
		£ million 
		
			  Business link DTI Per cent. 
		
		
			 1996–97 115 2,861 4.0 
			 1997–98 129 2,847 4.5 
			 1998–99 118 2,909 4.0 
			 1999–2000 120 3,370 3.6 
			 2000–01 137 4,355 3.1

User Consultation

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new steps her Department took in 2001–02 to consult the users of its services about their wishes and expectations; and if she will publish the findings.

Patricia Hewitt: In June last year I announced two major reviews—one of the priorities and structure of my Department, and the other of its support for business. During those reviews almost 1,500 organisations and individuals gave us their views. These were gathered through regional workshops, face to face discussions, direct correspondence and specially commissioned market research. Views were also received via the DTI website mailbox.
	Details can be found in the "House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee, Reviews of DTI Structure and Business Support—Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 12 December 2001 (HC 454–1)".

Relocation

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to relocate executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies under the remit of her Department to Scotland.

Patricia Hewitt: The locations of my Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies are determined by business need and, accordingly, they already have a strong presence in Scotland. All but one of the Agencies have offices throughout Scotland and the non-departmental public bodies are also well represented with offices in 24 different locations. In addition my Department's headquarters has four offices in Scotland.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the timescale is for achievements of the PSA target to put in place policies to narrow the productivity gap relative to other industrialised countries over the cycle.

Patricia Hewitt: The joint DTI/HM-Treasury PSA target is to improve UK competitiveness by narrowing the productivity gap with the US, France, Germany and Japan over the economic cycle. The Government has put in place a wide range of policies to drive up productivity by improving innovation, investment and skills and by fostering enterprise and fair competition. A full assessment of performance against the PSA target can only be made once the current economic cycle has ended. The methodology for identifying the economic cycle is given in the document "Fiscal policy: public finances and the HM Treasury", published in March

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to narrow the productivity gap relative to other industrialised countries over the cycle will be met by June 2005.

Patricia Hewitt: The DTI and HM Treasury are monitoring performance against the PSA target to improve UK competitiveness by narrowing the productivity gap with the US, France, Germany and Japan over the economic cycle. They will make a full assessment of whether the PSA target has been achieved at the end of the current economic cycle.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on performance in 2000–01 against the PSA target to narrow the productivity gap relative to other industrialised countries over the cycle.

Patricia Hewitt: The most recent data published by ONS show that the UK had a labour productivity gap, on both a per worker and a per hour worked basis, with the US, France and Germany in 2000. It also shows that since 1997 the productivity gap on both a per worker and per hour basis has remained broadly unchanged with France and Germany. The gap with the US has remained broadly the same on a per hour basis, but has widened on the per worker measure. However, a full assessment of the PSA target can only be made once the current economic cycle has ended. The latest data are available from ONS's website www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/economy/Articles/ nationalaccounts/international_comparisons_productivity.asp.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new initiatives her Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets.

Patricia Hewitt: General information on the work carried out by the Department during 2001–02 in pursuit of its Public Service Agreement targets will be incorporated in the Departments' 2002–03 to 2003–04 Expenditure Plans Report, due to be published in May. Copies of the report will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase the productivity and profitability of SMEs assisted by Business Link Partnerships, and to show year by year improvements in the quality of services delivered under the Business Link brand will be met throughout the period June 2001 to June 2006.

Patricia Hewitt: An impact assessment framework has been established to track the productivity and profitability of SMEs assisted by Business Link Partnerships. The time lags involved in collection of these data mean 2001 figures will not be available until at least 2003 and this will continue throughout the specified period. Early results show that a large majority of BLO clients first assisted in 1997–98 demonstrated increases in productivity. The average increase was 30 per cent. for Business Link clients compared to 18 per cent. for non-clients. Profitability also increased with 42 per cent. of clients having a positive profile compared to 40 per cent. for non-clients.
	The quality of services delivered under the Business Link brand will be measured via customer satisfaction. Results of a new Customer Satisfaction Framework, requiring each operator to carry out independent customer satisfaction surveys every six months, will be available from spring 2002. In the interim the SBS Omnibus Survey (using a relatively small sample of Business Link users) suggests that satisfaction is in the 75–80 per cent. range of regular users, but less so for past and infrequent users.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to maintain or improve levels of energy security, diversity, sustainability and competitive energy price will be met.

Patricia Hewitt: The public service agreement target to maintain or improve levels of energy security, diversity, sustainability and competitive prices has been updated for 2001–2004 to:
	"to develop strong, competitive markets within a regulatory framework which promotes fairness and sustainability". This was set out in the "Spending Review 2000: Public Service Agreements 2001–04" White Paper (Cm 4808).
	The specific energy targets relating to this objective are as follows:
	Ensure competitive gas and electricity prices in the lower half of the EU/G7 basket, while achieving security of supply and social and environmental objectives.
	Improve the environment and sustainable use of natural resources, including by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. from 1990 levels and moving towards a 20 per cent. reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010 (joint target with DEFRA).
	An assessment of progress towards the targets currently monitored is as follows:
	Competitive energy prices
	Overall, in 2000, based on incomplete data, it appears that UK industrial and domestic gas prices were in the lower half of the EU/G7 basket. UK domestic electricity prices including taxes and industrial prices including taxes were also in the lower half of the EU/G7 basket during 2000. Figures for the UK show that electricity prices have fallen in 2001.
	Security
	The Department's target to maintain or improve the number of electricity power supply interruptions per 100 customers, and average time lost was not met in 2000–01 as it increased to 84 interruptions per 100 customers with 86 minutes lost per customer from 81 interruptions per 100 customers and 71 minutes lost per customer in 1999–2000. Oil stocks are also monitored, with a target to maintain national emergency oil stocks at, or above, levels required by international obligations. At the end of January 2002 the UK held stocks equal to 82 days of consumption, compared with an obligation of 67½ days.
	Diversity
	The Department has a target to achieve 10 per cent. of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2010, subject to the costs to consumers being acceptable. The percentage of electricity generated in the UK from all renewable sources in 2000 was 2.8 per cent. Detailed renewable energy statistics for 2001 are not yet available, but provisional figures show that large scale hydro schemes provided about 0.8 per cent. of electricity generation in 2001 compared with 1.2 per cent. in 2000. This was because of lower precipitation in Scotland during the winter of 2000–2001. However, it is expected that generation from other renewable sources will have increased in 2001.
	Social
	The Department has introduced a social target of fuel expenditure as a percentage of income (including housing benefit and income support for mortgage interest) for the lowest three income deciles to be reducing and below 5 per cent. by 2003–04. Over the last four years fuel expenditure as a percentage of income has generally been reducing and in 2000–01 was 7 per cent.
	Sustainability/Environment
	Although provisional figures indicate that CO 2 emissions were higher in 2001 than 1999 and 2000, due to increased coal burn in power stations as a result of higher gas prices, and colder weather in the winter months, CO 2 emissions are nevertheless 6 per cent. below 1990 levels. It is estimated that the quantified measures in the UK Climate Change Programme could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 19 per cent. below 1990 levels in 2010. The programme is also designed to stimulate a wider response from all parts of society, which could reduce emissions still further and deliver the 20 per cent. goal.
	In 2000 greenhouse gas emissions were 13 per cent. lower than in 1990. Projections suggest that the UK remains on course to meet its Kyoto commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 12.5 per cent. by 2008–12 from 1990 level.
	Sulphur dioxide emissions in 2000 were 76 per cent. lower than in 1980. The Department remains on course to meet the sulphur dioxide emissions target of 80 per cent. below 1980 levels by 2010.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she had made of the date by which the PSA target to secure an increase in the number of successful high growth business start ups will be met.

Patricia Hewitt: An estimate of the number of successful high growth business start-ups has been made annually for the last four years. The estimates are shown in the table. There is an inevitable lag in recording high-growth start ups. For example the 1998 figures relate to businesses first registering for VAT in 1994. An estimate relating to firms first registering for VAT in 1998 will be available later this year.
	
		
			 Year started Number of firms Year progress known 
		
		
			 1994 12,300 1998 
			 1995 11,800 1999 
			 1996 11,100 2000 
			 1997 11,200 (104)2001 
		
	
	(104) Provisional

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will set out the criteria and timescale for the measurement of progress against the PSA target to secure an increase in the number of successful high growth business start-ups.

Patricia Hewitt: The aim of the target is to raise the number of successful high growth business start-ups to 20,000 a year by 2002. A successful high growth start-up is defined as a firm having 10 or more employees and/or turnover of at least £1 million by the fourth year of trading. an estimate of the number of successful high growth start-ups is produced annually. The estimate for 2002 will be available in 2007, as there is an inherent four year time lag and a further one year time lag in collating the data.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the definitions are of (a) successful and (b) high growth in the PSA target to secure an increase in the number of successful, high growth business start-ups.

Patricia Hewitt: A successful high growth start-up is defined as a firm having 10 or more employees and/or turnover of at least £1 million by the fourth year of trading.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to increase by 50 per cent. the 1997–98 number of companies spun out from universities by 2001–02.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 118W.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of whether the PSA target to make the UK the best place in the world to trade electronically will be met by (a) June 2005 and (b) June 2006.

Patricia Hewitt: The DTI's e-commerce PSA target is to make and keep the UK the best place in the world to trade electronically, as measured by the cost of internet access, and the extent of business to business and business to consumer transactions carried out over e-commerce networks by 2004. The DTI works with Oftel and the Office for National Statistics in order to measure these indicators.
	Recent figures show that:
	The UK is ranked third lowest with regards to narrow band internet access costs in OECD countries and second lowest in the G7.
	The UK is among the leading group of countries on the number of businesses trading online and other key measures.
	The UK has the one of the largest e-commerce markets in Europe, with e-sales representing over 5 per cent. of the value of total sales
	In May 2001 the total value of business to business transactions in sectors covered amounted to 6 per cent. of total value of sales.
	In May 2001 figures showed that £10 billion of sales over the internet were from businesses to households.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on performance in 2001 against the PSA target to ensure 98 per cent. of EU single market measures to be transposed into UK law.

Patricia Hewitt: By November 2001 the UK had transposed 97.2 per cent. of EU single market directives due by that date. By the time of the Barcelona Council in March 2002, the UK had increased its transposition rate to 98.7 per cent.

Access to Information

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which her Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997.

Patricia Hewitt: According to records held centrally, the administrative manuals and internal guidance listed are currently publicly available as required by paragraph 3 (ii) of Part I of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Documents marked 1 were first made available after May 1997.
	Business Links
	Business Links: Guidelines for Officials.
	Coal
	Redundant Mineworkers Payment Schemes procedures.
	Redundant Mineworkers Payment Scheme Incapacity Benefit Equivalent.
	Competition Policy
	Guidance to officials on procedures for handling decisions made under Section 23 (3) of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976.
	Guidance to officials on procedures for handling directions made under Section 21 (2) of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976.
	Guidance for DTI officials on procedures for handling inquiries under Section 11 of the Competition Act 1980: efficiency audits of nationalised industries.
	Guidance to officials on procedures for handling newspaper mergers under s.57ff of the Fair Trading Act 1973.
	Guidance to officials on procedures for publication of MMC reports following a reference under the Competition Act 1980.
	Monopolies: guidance to officials on procedures for handling monopoly references by the Director General of Fair Trading under the Fair Trading Act 1973, publication of MMC monopoly reports and follow up action.
	UK (non newspaper) mergers: guidance notes.
	Disclaimers
	Giving advice and information to members of the public and outside organisations: use of disclaimers.
	Exports
	Export Control Compliance Unit: Compliance visit procedures.
	Export Control Organisation (ECO) Handbook.
	Overseas Trade Services guidelines 1 .
	Market Testing
	DTI Guide to Market Testing.
	Metals
	The Iron and Steel Employees Re-adaption Benefits Scheme: men aged 55 and over: women aged 50 and over.
	The Iron and Steel Employees Re-adaption Benefits Scheme: men aged under 55: women aged under 50.
	Oil and gas
	Offshore Research and Development Programme (OSSCAR): Guidance notes for staff.
	Open Government
	Open Government: Documents lodged for public consultation in accordance with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, January 2002 1 .
	General guidelines for staff working in the DTI Inquiry Unit 1 .
	Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: Handling requests for information 1 .
	Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: DTI scheme of charges and charging procedures 1 .
	Open Government Obligations 1 .
	The role of the Open Government Liaison Officer 1 .
	Guidance for Directorates wishing to deposit documents in the Open Government section of Information and Library Services 1 .
	Guidance Notes on Procedures for Paying for Photocopies of Open Government Documents 1 .
	A Guide for Night Duty Officers 1 .
	Personnel
	Internal guidance for DTI personnel staff on conducting external staff recruitment in accordance with legal obligations and the Civil Service Commissioner's Recruitment Code.
	Private Business Radio Systems
	Private Business Radio Systems procedures manual 1 .
	Procurement
	DTI Procurement manual.
	Procurement Guide: EC Services Directive.
	Procurement Guide: EC Supplies Directive and GATT GPA.
	Shipbuilding
	Guidance notes on the Shipbuilding Intervention Fund.
	Technology
	International secondments: information pack 1 .
	LINK best practice guidelines.
	TCS (Teaching Company Scheme): supervisor handbook.
	TCS (Teaching Company Scheme): associate handbook.
	The SMART (1997) Scheme—Guidelines for Officials 1 .
	The SMART (1999) Scheme—Guidelines for Officials 1 .
	The SMART (1999–2002) Scheme—Guidelines for Officials 1 .

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 673W, on public bodies, what information she receives on possible appointees to non-departmental public bodies prior to their appointment; and what method her Department uses to notify people of their appointment to a non-departmental public body.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 18 March 2002
	The procedures for making appointments to non-departmental public bodies are governed by the rules of the Commissioner for Public Appointments as set out in her Code. This includes the requirement for completion of an application form by each individual being considered for appointment. In addition to information relevant to the specific appointment application forms request monitoring information on ethnicity, gender and disability. It is also a requirement of the OCPA Code that information is collected from all applicants on political activity in the five years prior to application.
	Individuals who are appointed through the procedures receive a letter of appointment. Details of appointees to individual bodies are made public in press releases at the time of appointment or in the annual report of the NDPB and details of all appointees are published in the Departmental Annual Expenditure Plans Report copies of which are placed in the Libraries of the House.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many appointments to public bodies have been made through her Department (a) from April 2000 to March 2001 and (b) since 31 March 2001; and how many of these were (i) men and (ii) women.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 12 March 2002
	The numbers of men and women appointed to bodies for which my Department is responsible during the periods in question are:
	
		
			 Period Men appointed Women appointed 
		
		
			 1 April 2000—31 March 2001 347 129 
			 1 April 2001—28 February 2002 207 62

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people have been appointed by her to official bodies and NDPBs coming under the aegis of her Department in the last three years; and who they were.

Patricia Hewitt: Details of all individuals appointed to NDPBs falling within the responsibility of my Department are set out in the DTI's annual Expenditure Plans reports, copies of which are placed in the Libraries of the House. The reports set out the body to which the appointment has been made, the name of the appointee, the position to which they have been appointed, the period of the appointment, the remuneration where applicable and the time commitment required of the appointee.
	Details for all appointments made in 1999 are given in the report for 1999–2000 published in April 2000 (Cm 4611) and those for 2000 are given in the report for 2000–01 published in March 2001 (Cm 5112). Details for appointments made in 2001 will be included in the next report for 2001–02, due to be published in May. In advance of that publication I have placed a table giving the details in the Libraries of both Houses.

Knowledge Transfer Initiatives

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) purpose and (b) cost of knowledge transfer initiatives sponsored by her Department in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 12 March 2002
	The knowledge transfer initiatives supported by the Department for Trade and Industry in 2000–01 and 2001–02 are listed in the table.
	
		£ 
		
			Cost to DTI  
			 Initiative Purpose 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) To enable HEIs to respond to the needs of business, through both the continuing development of capacity in universities to interact with business and the community (building on HEROBC(105)), and large, strategic, collaborative projects to strengthen university-business partnerships. n/a 20,000,000 
			 
			 The Science Enterprise Challenge Fund (SEC) To establish a network of centres in UK universities, specialising in the teaching and practice of commercialisation and entrepreneurialism in the field of science and technology. 15,750,000 5,782,000 
			 
			 The University Challenge Fund (UC) To enable universities to access seed funds in order to assist the successful transformation of good research into good business. n/a 12,500,000 
			 
			 The Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund (PSRE) To enable public sector research establishments to develop their capacity to exploit their science and technology potential and to access seed funding to support the commercialisation of research. n/a 10,000,000 
			 
			 Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) To provide a catalyst to improve economic competitiveness and productivity, while working with UK universities to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit in higher education. 1,450,000 14,000,000 
			 
			 LINK (inc. Foresight LINK Awards) To promote research partnerships between UK industry, universities and other research base organisations. The research is pre-competitive and strategic and undertaken within a well-defined project management framework. 31,000,000(106) n/a(107) 
			 
			 Business Fellowships To focus on recognising and developing creative activities carried out within HEIs to build their response to the needs of business across the full range of their academic activity. n/a 103,125 
			 
			 Faraday Partnerships To promote closer interaction between the UK science, engineering and technology base and industry through the involvement of intermediate organisations. To strengthen the way technology is developed and exploited within the UK by stimulating closer communication and co-operation between researchers and new product developers. 2,040,000 6,200,000 
			 
			 Eureka To encourage industry-led projects in applied R&D involving large and small firms, research organisations and HEIs. To contribute to development of European network infrastructure for collaborative R&D—32 members in network. 3,500,000 3,500,000 
			 
			 International Technology Service To ensure that British businesses are able to keep abreast of the latest developments overseas and are able to afford the costs of access—to promote technology transfer between UK businesses and international businesses. 3,760,000 5,700,000 
			 
			 Britech To support effective technology partnerships between UK and Israeli companies that, individually, achieve additional benefits. Also to create a climate whereby UK and Israeli firms will wish to collaborate more, with benefit to themselves and wider benefits to the UK. 600,000 700,000 
			 TCS (previously known as the Teaching Company Scheme) To facilitate the transfer of technology, knowledge and skills between businesses and HEIs and other research-based organisations, to provide business-based training and experience for high-calibre graduates, and to enhance the business relevance of teaching and research in HEIs. 11,500,000 14,200,000 
		
	
	(105) The Higher Education Reach-out to Business and the Community Fund. Aim is to develop the capability of higher education institutions to respond to the needs of business of all sizes and sectors and a range of bodies within the wider community.
	(106) Expenditure by DTI and five Research Councils (EPSRC, BBSRC, NERC, MRC, ESRC).
	(107) Expenditure figure not yet available for 2001–02, because it is an aggregate of figures from various Government Departments and Research Councils.

Legal Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what legal costs have been incurred by her Department in each of the last four years.

Patricia Hewitt: Information on legal costs is not held centrally, except for costs awarded against the Department, details of which were as follows:
	
		£000 
		
			 Year  
		
		
			 1998–99 1,915 
			 1999–2000 288 
			 2000–01 532 
			 2001–02 450(108) 
		
	
	(108) Estimated

Departmental Website

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total cost of her Department's website was in real terms in each of the last four years; and how many hits it received in each of those years.

Patricia Hewitt: The support costs underpinning the operation of the Department's websites are included in the service charges paid under the DTI's overall IT service contract. The website costs are not identified separately in these charges and therefore the figures requested are not available.
	The core DTI site www.dti.gov.uk has been updated twice in the last four years, involving design costs of £13,075 in FY 1999–2000, and £16,560 in FY 2000–01 (figures include VAT, and at FY 2001–02 prices). A more substantial redevelopment of the site went live on 9 April 2002, at a cost of £60,294 including VAT.
	The Department has been collecting access statistics on a comparable basis since July 1998. The number of hits to the site www.dti.gov.uk since then has been:
	July 1998—December 1998: 16,265,698
	January 1999—December 1999: 59,498,841
	January 2000—December 2000: 81,730,285
	January 2001—December 2001: 95,226,594.

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many members of staff were employed by her Department on secondment from non-Governmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Patricia Hewitt: The numbers of inward secondments commenced, continued or completed in each of the years requested are:
	
		
			 Period  Number 
		
		
			 1 April 1999—31 March 2000 163 
			 1 April 2000—31 March 2001 176 
			 1 April 2001—28 February 2002 158

Secondments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in her Department have been seconded to jobs in the (a) private and (b) public sector in each of the last four years.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the information given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 7 February 2002, Official Report, column 1130W, which gave these details for all Departments.

Secondments

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  if she will list the names of staff who have been seconded to her Department from the private sector since May 1997, indicating (a) the names of the organisation from which each has come, (b) their responsibilities and civil service grade within her Department and (c) the organisation responsible for paying their salary;
	(2)  if she will list the secondees to her Department from the private sector and their roles.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 1 February 2002
	The information requested was last provided on 28 June 2001, Official Report, column 143W in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Northampton, South. I have placed in the Libraries of both Houses the original table as at 28 June 2001 and an update to that information showing all secondees into my Department since then. The table shows the name of each secondee, the company from which they have come, the grade of the post which they are filling in the Department, the Directorate in which they are working, the period of their secondment and a brief description of their duties. In all cases secondees are paid by their employing company.
	It is not possible for me to give this information on all secondees from May 1997 onwards as the non-disclosure provisions of the Data Protection Act prevent me from doing so without the express consent of the individuals concerned.

Public Bodies (Chairmen)

Eric Forth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the appointments made by her Department since 1 May 1997 of chairmen of (a) non-departmental public bodies, (b) commissions, (c) inquiries, (d) agencies and (e) task forces; and if she will list their (i) term of office, (ii) salary and (iii) known political affiliation (A) past and (B) present.

Patricia Hewitt: The information requested for NDPBs and NDPB commissions within the responsibility of my Department is as follows:
	
		
			 Body Name Period Salary (£) 
		
		
			 British Shipbuilders Christopher Campbell 4 June 1998–3 March 2002 34,736pa 
			 Coal Authority John Harris 19 September 1999–18 September 2004 25,000pa 
			 British Coal Corp Philip Hutchinson June-December 1997 95,085 (total) 
			  Mike Atkinson January 1998–18 June 2000 Nil (ex officio) 
			  Peter Mason 18 June 2000-on-going Nil (ex officio) 
			 British Nuclear Fuels Hugh Collum 1 October 1999–30 September 2004 150,000pa 
			 National Consumer Council David Hatch 1 January 1999–31 December 2000 23,033pa 
			  Deirdre Hutton 1 January 2001–31 December 2003 30,900pa 
			 Scottish Consumer Council Graeme Millar 8 May 2000–30 April 2003 15,450pa 
			 Welsh Consumer Council Barbara Hicks 1 October 1997–30 September 2003 6,695pa 
			 Hearing Aid Council John Raine 1 September 1997–31 December 2003 (109)172.13 
			 Energywatch Ann Robinson 1 January 2000–31 December 2003 45,000 
			 Design Council Sir Chris Frayling 1 April 2000–31 March 2003 Nil 
			 Competition Commission Dr. Derek Morris 1 February 1998–31 January 2006 (inc. reappt) 150,000pa 
			 Simpler Trade Procedures BoardLord Amir Bhatia 15 July 2001–14 July 2004 Nil 
			 United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Sir Kenneth Eaton 1 April 1999–31 March 2002 (inc. reappt) 30,000pa 
			 Aerospace Committee Colin Green 31 March 1999–31 March 2002 Nil 
			 Industrial Development Advisory Board Sir Anthony Cleaver 1 November 1998–31 October 1999 Nil 
			  Sir Victor Blank 1 November 1999–31 July 2004 (inc. 2 reappts) Nil 
			 North West Industrial Development Board Anil Ruia 1 January 1999–31 December 2001 Nil 
			  Mrs. Lorraine Clinton 1 January 2002–30 April 2004 Nil 
			 East of England Industrial Development Board Mrs. Elaine Oddie 1 August 1997–30 June 2003 (inc. reappt) Nil 
			 West Midlands Industrial Development Board Merrick Taylor 1 January 1998–31 December 1999 Nil 
			  John Hudson 1 January 2000–31 December 2001 Nil 
			  Paul Sabapathy 1 January 2002–31 January 2003 Nil 
			 North East Industrial Development Board John Ward 1 January 1999–31 December 2000 Nil 
			  Richard Maudslay 1 January 2001–31 December 2002 Nil 
			 Yorks/Humberside/East Midlands Industrial Development Board Ron Lasseter 1 January 1998–31 December 1999 Nil 
			  Mrs. Julie Kenny 1 January 2000–30 December 2002 Nil 
			 London/South East Industrial Development Board Ian Herman 1 January 1998–31 March 2000 Nil 
			  Christopher Dane 1 April 2000–31 December 2001 Nil 
			 South West Industrial Development Board David Hancock 1 January 1998–31 December 1998 Nil 
			  Ian Lowe 1 January 1999–31 July 2003 (inc. reappt) Nil 
			 Measurement Advisory Commission Bill Goldfinch 1 July 1997–31 March 2002 (inc. reappt) Nil 
			 Intellectual Property Advisory Committee Ian Harvey 1 September 2001–31 August 2004 1,500pa 
			 Energy Advisory Panel Sir John Collins July 2001-July 2004 450 per meeting 
			 British Trade International (BTI)
			 BTI British Airports Advisory Council Mike Hodgkinson 1 September 2001–31 August 2004 Nil 
			 BTI Education and Training Export Group Rob Meakin 1 June 1998–31 January 2004 Nil 
			 BTI Healthcare Sector Group John Robinson 16 March 2001–15 March 2003 Nil 
			 BTI Offshore Supplies Office Board Ian Bill 15 April 1998–14 April 2004 Nil 
			 BTI Railway Sector Group Michael Welton 28 September 2001–27 September 2003 Nil 
			 Trade Partners UK: Americas Advisers Martin Laing 5 January 2001–4 January 2003 Nil 
			 Trade Partners UK: Asia Pacific Advisers Anthony Cleaver 18 December 1998–7 March 2003 Nil 
			 Trade Partners UK: Europe Advisers Peter Cheshire 5 January 2001–4 January 2003 Nil 
			 Trade Partners UK: Middle East/Africa Advisers George Kennedy 5 January 2001–4 January 2003 Nil 
			 UK Ports Sector Group David Jeffrey 1 October 1998–31 December 2004 Nil 
			 Water Sector Group Stuart Doughty 2 October 1997–3 October 2004 Nil 
			 Power Sector Group Graham Ward 31 July 2001–30 July 2004 Nil 
			 Regional Advisory Group Stella Pirie 1 May 2001–30 April 2004 Nil 
			 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Dr. Peter Doyle 1 May 1998–30 April 2002 13,700pa 
			 Council for Central Laboratory of the Research Councils Paul Williams 1 May 1997–31 March 1998 (110)72,994 (total) 
			  Bert Westwood 1 April 1998–31 March 2000 (110)91,526 (total) 
			  Dr. Brian Eyre 1 April 2000–30 September 2001 13,300pa 
			  Sir Graeme Davies 1 October 2001–30 September 2005 26,600pa (Yr1) 
			13,700pa (Yr2–4) 
			 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Anthony Ledwith 1 April 1999–31 March 2003 13,700pa 
			 Economic and Social Research Council Dr. Bruce Smith 1 April 1998–31 March 2001 13,300pa 
			  Frances Cairncross 1 April 2001–31 March 2004 13,700pa 
			 Medical Research Council Sir Anthony Cleaver 1 October 1998–30 September 2002 13,700pa 
			 Natural Environment Research Council Rob Margetts 1 January 2001–30 December 2003 13,700pa 
			 Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council Sir Peter Williams 1 May 1997–31 March 1999 13,300pa 
			  Dr. Robert Hawley 1 April 1999–30 September 2001 13,300pa 
			  Peter Warry 1 November 2001–31 October 2005 13,700pa 
			 Central Arbitration Committee John Rideout July 1999-March 2000 Daily allowance 
			  Sir Michael Burton 27 March 2000-on-going (111)— 
			 Council of Science and Technology Secretary of State On-going Nil (ex officio) 
			 Foresight Steering Group David King 1 October 2000–31 March 2002 Nil (ex officio) 
			 Low Pay Commission Sir George Bain September 1997-April 2002 450 per meeting 
			 Ethnic Minority Business Forum Yvonne Thompson July 2000-July 2003 Nil 
			 Partnership Fund Assessment Panel William Coupar 20 December 1999–19 December 2003 Nil 
			 Small Business Council William Sargent March 2000-March 2003 Nil 
			 Advisory Committee for Work-Life Balance Minister of State for Employment Relations and Regions On-going Nil (ex officio) 
			 Advantage West Midlands Alex Stephenson 14 December 1998–13 December 2002 (inc reappt) 45,276pa 
			 East of England Development Agency Vincent Watts 14 December 1998–13 December 2003 (inc reappt) 45,276pa 
			 East Midlands Development Agency Derek Mapp 14 December 1998–13 December 2004 (inc reappt) 45,276pa 
			 North West Development Agency Lord Thomas of Macclesfield 14 December 1998–31 March 2002 45,276pa 
			  Bryan Gray 1 April 2002–31 March 2005 45,276pa 
			 One North East Dr. John Bridge 14 December 1998–13 December 2003 (inc. reappt) 45,276pa 
			 South East England Development Agency Allan Willett 14 December 1998–13 December 2002 (inc reappt) (112)22,000pa 
			 South West England Development Agency Sir Michael Lickiss 14 December 1998–13 December 2002 (inc. reappt) 45,276pa 
			 Yorkshire Forward Graham Hall 14 December 1998–13 December 2003 (inc reappt) 45,276pa 
			 Import Parity Price Panel Andrew Horsler 1 December 2000–30 November 2003 5,000pa 
			 Small Business Investment Task Force Sir David Cooksey September 2000-September 2003 Nil 
			 Distributed Generation Working Group Neil Hirst   
			  John Nielson (Joint) 30 November 2001-on-going Nil (ex officio) 
			 Basic Technologies Programme Jeremy Watson 5 December 2001-on-going Nil 
			 Business Incubation Fund Investment Panel Dr. John Bridge 2 January 2002–1 January 2004 Nil 
			 Scottish Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Jeremy Mitchell 1 April 2001–31 March 2004 (113)150 per day 
			 Consumer Communications for England Moira Black 1 April 2001–31 March 2004 (113)150 per day 
			 Welsh Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Mike Tedd 1 April 2001–31 March 2004 (113)150 per day 
			 North Ireland Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Courtenay Thompson 1 April 2001–31 March 2004 (113)150 per day 
			 Spectrum Management Advisory Group Dr. John Forrest 13 May 1998–14 May 2002 (inc. reappt) Nil 
			 British Hallmarking Council Sir Adam Butler January 1998-on-going 12,000pa 
			 ACAS John Hougham 1 February 1998–31 December 2000 86,818pa 
			  Rita Donaghy 9 October 2000–8 October 2005 55,801pa 
			 Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission Malcolm Grant 15 May 2000–31 January 2003 (114)188 per day 
			 Consignia Dr. Neville Bain 16 March 1998–31 December 2001 90,816pa 
			  Allan Leighton 1 January 2002–24 March 2005 20,000pa 
			 Postcomm Graham Corbett 6 November 2000–31 March 2003 110,000pa 
			 Postwatch Peter Carr 1 January 2001–30 November 2003 30,870pa 
			 Fuel Cell Advisory Panel Adrian Hyde January 1998–30 September 2000 Nil (ex officio) 
			  Alan Heyes 1 October 2000–31 December 2001 Nil (ex officio) 
			  Ray Eaton 1 January 2002-on-going Nil (ex officio) 
		
	
	(109) Daily attendance allowance.
	(110) Paul Williams and Bert Westwood were paid as both Chairman and Chief Executive.
	(111) 20 per cent. of his High Court judge salary.
	(112) Mr. Willett has opted to receive £22,000pa rather than the full amount to which he is entitled.
	(113) Up to 60 days per year.
	(114) 42 days per year.
	Information on political affiliation of public appointees is not collected.
	Information on task forces, ad hoc advisory groups and reviews has been published by the Cabinet Office on a regular basis. The first report was published on 11 January 2000 and gives information for the period between 1 May 1997 to 31 October 1999. Subsequent reports covering the periods between November 1999 to March 2001 have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Press Office

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total cost of running the Department's press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.

Patricia Hewitt: The cost of running DTI press office was: (a) 1,439,000 (1996–97); (b) 1,984,000 (2000–01). These figures consist of staff and operating costs and reflect the increase in departmental responsibilities in the period.

Unpaid Advisers

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the names of the unpaid advisers appointed by her and her predecessors since June 1997, stating in each case (a) the date of their appointment, (b) the duration of their appointment and (c) the project or projects on which they have been engaged.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 25 March 2002
	For details of unpaid appointments made by this department to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I refer you to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie), on 16 November, Official Report, column 958W.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for the five largest PFI contracts let by her Department in each of the last four years; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 25 March 2002
	The Department and its agencies have signed three PFI contracts in the last four years—Elgar (which provides the Department's IT infrastructure), the re-development of the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington and the Radiocommunications Agency's Strategic Partnership.
	In the case of the Elgar and RA Strategic Partnership contracts, the procurement process (or competition) did not involve the selection of a 'preferred' bidder.
	The net present cost of the National Physical Laboratory PFI contract (excluding support services) was estimated to be £92 million at the time of the selection of the preferred bidder and £116 million at contract signature, primarily reflecting a re-definition of the scope of the project by the Department.

Procurement

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the procurement payment target for 2000–01 was met.

Patricia Hewitt: The Department has a payment performance target to pay 100 per cent. of its suppliers within 30 days of a correctly presented invoice. Against this target for financial year 2000–01, the Department achieved 94 per cent.

Departmental Administration

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total of efficiency savings for departmental administration were in 2000–01 in (a) money and (b) percentage terms.

Patricia Hewitt: The efficiency savings achieved by my Department in 2000–01 have been calculated at £19.3 million. This figure represents a percentage saving of 4.6 per cent.

Departmental Underspend

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) capital and (b) revenue underspend in her Department is expected to be in the financial year 2001–02.

Patricia Hewitt: Estimated outturn figures for 2001–02 will be published in the budget Report on 17 April.

Property Protection

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new measures her Department took in 2001–02 to protect its property from theft or damage.

Patricia Hewitt: My Department uses a range of measures to protect its property from theft or damage, including security guarding, CCTV, intruder alarms and asset marking of valuable items. A review of security measures is a standard response to any incident and increased measures, such as additional security patrols in vulnerable areas and bag searches are brought in as appropriate. Advice is also sought from the local police crime prevention officer.

Aggregates Levy

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made of the likely change in the price of construction materials following the introduction of the aggregates levy.

Paul Boateng: I have been asked to reply.
	The levy's impact on the price of construction materials will depend upon the amount of virgin aggregate used in their manufacture and the extent to which aggregates suppliers pass on the cost of the levy to customers.

HEALTH

Cancelled Operations

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what percentage of patients were not readmitted within a month of their operation being cancelled in (a) England and (b) each health authority in each year since 1997–98;
	(2)  what was the percentage of operations cancelled at short notice for non-clinical reasons in (a) England and (b) each health authority for each year since 1997–98.

John Hutton: Information for 1997–98 to 2000–01 is shown in the tables.
	
		Cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, health authorities in England, 2000–01
		
			 NHS Region/OrglD Name Number of last minute cancellations for non-clinical reasons in the last year Number of patients not admitted within one month of last minute cancellation Percentage of patients not admitted within one month Last minute cancellations as a percentage of elective admissions 
		
		
			 Y00 England 77,818 16,454 21 1.5 
			   
			 Y01—QDD Bradford HA 451 14 3 0.7 
			 Y01—QDE County Durham HA 265 52 20 0.6 
			 Y01—QDF East Riding HA 323 54 17 0.6 
			 Y01—QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA 200 24 12 0.6 
			 Y01—QDH Leeds HA 602 249 41 0.6 
			 Y01—QDJ Newcastle and North Tyneside HA 1,661 422 25 1.8 
			 Y01—QDK North Cumbria HA 767 104 14 2.5 
			 Y01—QDM Northumberland HA 48 4 8 0.1 
			 Y01—QDN Sunderland HA 206 6 3 0.5 
			 Y01—QDP Tees HA 998 74 7 1.2 
			 Y01—QDQ Wakefield HA 966 235 24 2.5 
			 Y01—QDR North Yorkshire HA 791 63 8 1.0 
			 Y01—QDT Calderdale and Kirklees HA 744 173 23 1.4 
			 Y02—QCG Barnsley HA 37 3 8 0.2 
			 Y02—QCH North Derbyshire Health 339 5 1 1.4 
			 Y02—QCJ Southern Derbyshire Health 231 — 0 0.4 
			 Y02—QCK Doncaster HA 344 43 13 0.9 
			 Y02—QCL Leicester HA 987 124 13 1.1 
			 Y02—QCM Lincolnshire Health 508 65 13 0.9 
			 Y02—QCN North Nottinghamshire Health 360 — 0 1.0 
			 Y02—QCP Nottingham HA 501 52 10 0.6 
			 Y02—QCQ Rotherham HA 159 40 25 0.8 
			 Y02—QCR Sheffield Health 1,398 42 3 1.5 
			 Y02—QDL South Humber HA 292 — 0 0.6 
			 Y07—QD9 Birmingham HA 2,633 85 3 1.7 
			 Y07—QEA Coventry Health 759 156 21 2.0 
			 Y07—QEC Dudley HA 360 10 3 1.1 
			 Y07—QED Herefordshire HA 356 108 30 2.0 
			 Y07—QEE Sandwell HA 181 22 12 0.8 
			 Y07—QEF Shropshire HA 285 110 39 0.7 
			 Y07—QEG Solihull HA — — — — 
			 Y07—QEH North Staffordshire HA 766 87 11 1.1 
			 Y07—QEJ South Staffordshire HA 516 90 17 1.0 
			 Y07—QEK Walsall HA 149 — 0 0.8 
			 Y07—QEL Warwickshire HA 278 51 18 0.7 
			 Y07—QEM Wolverhampton HA 85 4 5 0.2 
			 Y07—QEN Worcestershire HA 337 72 21 0.8 
			 Y08—QC1 South Lancashire HA 426 2 0 2.3 
			 Y08—QC2 Liverpool HA 571 130 23 0.8 
			 Y08—QC3 Manchester Health 2,330 1,057 45 1.6 
			 Y08—QC4 Morecambe Bay HA 803 135 17 2.2 
			 Y08—QC5 St. Helen's and Knowsley HA 808 220 27 2.7 
			 Y08—QC6 Salford and Trafford HA 507 85 17 0.9 
			 Y08—QC7 Sefton HA 479 54 11 0.8 
			 Y08—QC8 Stockport HA 404 16 4 1.1 
			 Y08—QC9 West Pennine HA 609 121 20 1.1 
			 Y08—QCT Bury and Rochdale HA 31 5 16 0.1 
			 Y08—QCV North Cheshire Health 464 112 24 1.4 
			 Y08—QCW South Cheshire HA 1,185 341 29 2.1 
			 Y08—QCX East Lancashire 579 49 8 1.0 
			 Y08—QCY North West Lancashire HA 492 17 3 0.4 
			 Y08—QDA Wigan and Bolton HA 1,032 359 35 1.8 
			 Y08—QDC Wirral Health 223 44 20 0.6 
			 Y09—QA6 Bedfordshire HA 894 52 7 1.7 
			 Y09—QAX North Essex HA 1,246 182 15 1.8 
			 Y09—QAY South Essex HA 1,299 234 18. 2.4 
			 Y09—QCF Suffolk Health 955 326 34 1.8 
			 Y09—QEP East and North Hertfordshire HA 490 197 40 1.4 
			 Y09—QEC West Hertfordshire HA 425 17 4 1.1 
			 Y09—QA9 Cambridgeshire HA 1,467 526 36 1.5 
			 Y09—QCA Norfolk HA 824 194 24 0.8 
			 Y010—QA2 Hillingdon HA 390 8 2 2.5 
			 Y10—QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 1,349 151 11 1.5 
			 Y10—QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA 592 126 21 3.3 
			 Y10—QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA 1,038 532 51 2.5 
			 Y10—QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA 320 — 0 1.0 
			 Y10—QAC Bromley HA 615 66 11 2.2 
			 Y10—QAD Croydon HA 430 174 40 2.2 
			 Y10—QAG Kingston and Richmond HA 277 24 9 1.5 
			 Y10—QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA 1,339 386 29 1.5 
			 Y10—QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA 1,466 368 25 2.1 
			 Y10—QAP Barking and Havering HA 1,984 534 27 6.5 
			 Y10—QAQ Barnet HA(115) 380 194 51 1.1 
			 Y10—QAR Brent and Harrow HA(116) 924 123 13 3.6 
			 Y10—QAT Camden and Islington HA 1,612 439 27 1.3 
			 Y10—QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA 953 107 11 1.5 
			 Y10—QAW East London and The City HA 1,787 642 36 2.8 
			 Y11—QA7 Berkshire HA 1,840 141 8 2.9 
			 Y11—QA8 Buckinghamshire HA 2,082 302 15 4.6 
			 Y11—QAE East Kent HA 785 307 39 1.3 
			 Y11—QAF West Kent HA 1,027 321 31 1.5 
			 Y11—QAK East Surrey HA 436 28 6 2.4 
			 Y11—QAL West Surrey Health Commission 1,705 544 32 2.7 
			 Y11—QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove HA 1,426 300 21 2.2 
			 Y11—QAN West Sussex HA 777 191 25 1.8 
			 Y11—QCC Northamptonshire HA 489 101 21 1.0 
			 Y11—QCE Oxfordshire HA 2,221 599 27 3.9 
			 Y11—QD1 North and Mid Hampshire HA 422 151 36 1.2 
			 Y11—QD2 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 599 47 8 1.1 
			 Y11—QD3 Southampton and South West Hampshire 1,154 239 21 2.0 
			 Y11—QD4 Isle of Wight HA 412 86 21 5.2 
			 Y12—QD5 Somerset HA 510 125 25 1.2 
			 Y12—QD6 South and West Devon HA 1,199 225 19 1.5 
			 Y12—QD7 Wiltshire HA 790 227 29 1.0 
			 Y12—QD8 Avon Health 3,544 963 27 3.3 
			 Y12—QDV Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA 464 186 40 1.0 
			 Y12—QDW Dorset HA 877 122 14 0.9 
			 Y12—QDX North and East Devon HA 728 196 27 1.1 
			 Y12—QDY Gloucestershire Health 669 62 9 1.0 
		
	
	(115) Figures for Q1 2000–01 reflect changes in local recording and reporting arrangements.
	(116) Includes estimates.
	Note:
	Charter Standard: Operations should not be cancelled (for non-clinical reasons) on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital and that, if this happens, patients should be admitted to hospital within one month of the first cancellation.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QMPC, Hospital Episode Statistics
	
		Cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, health authorities in England, 1999–2000
		
			 NHS Region/OrglD Name Number of last minute cancellations for non-clinical reasons in the last year Number of patients not admitted within one month of last minute cancellation Percentage of patients not admitted within one month Last minute cancellations as a percentage of elective admissions 
		
		
			 Y00 England 60,242 12,421 21 1.1 
			   
			 Y01—QDD Bradford HA 442 13 3 0.7 
			 Y01—QDE County Durham HA 318 34 11 0.7 
			 Y01—QDF East Riding HA 382 83 22 0.7 
			 Y01—QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA 70 7 10 0.2 
			 Y01—QDH Leeds HA 717 202 28 0.8 
			 Y01—QDJ Newcastle and North Tyneside HA 1,189 124 10 1.3 
			 Y01—QDK North Cumbria HA 374 69 18 1.2 
			 Y01—QDM Northumberland HA 55 10 18 0.1 
			 Y01—QDN Sunderland HA 157 0 0 0.4 
			 Y01—QDP Tees HA 756 119 16 0.9 
			 Y01—QDQ Wakefield HA 574 79 14 1.5 
			 Y01—QDR North Yorkshire HA 536 57 11 0.7 
			 Y01—QDT Calderdale and Kirklees HA 464 103 22 0.9 
			 Y02—QCG Barnsley HA 37 1 3 0.2 
			 Y02—QCH North Derbyshire Health 301 2 1 1.3 
			 Y02—QCJ Southern Derbyshire Health 13 0 0 0.0 
			 Y02—QCK Doncaster HA 237 20 8 0.6 
			 Y02—QCL Leicester HA 905 86 10 1.0 
			 Y02—QCM Lincolnshire Health 621 109 18 1.1 
			 Y02—QCN North Nottinghamshire Health 182 0 0 0.5 
			 Y02—QCP Nottingham HA 398 5 1 0.5 
			 Y02—QCQ Rotherham HA 118 33 28 0.6 
			 Y02—QCR Sheffield Health 964 40 4 1.1 
			 Y02—QDL South Humber HA 333 0 0 0.8 
			 Y07—QD9 Birmingham HA 2,499 118 5 1.7 
			 Y07—QEA Coventry Health 843 234 28 1.9 
			 Y07—QEC Dudley HA 106 23 22 0.3 
			 Y07—QED Herefordshire HA 161 30 19 1.0 
			 Y07—QEE Sandwell HA 157 57 36 0.8 
			 Y07—QEF Shropshire HA 319 99 31 0.7 
			 Y07—QEG Solihull HA — — — — 
			 Y07—QEH North Staffordshire HA 827 158 19 1.2 
			 Y07—QEJ South Staffordshire HA 261 70 27 0.5 
			 Y07—QEK Walsall HA 99 0 0 0.5 
			 Y07—QEL Warwickshire HA 326 56 17 0.9 
			 Y07—QEM Wolverhampton HA 90 8 9 0.2 
			 Y07—QEN Worcestershire HA 195 53 27 0.5 
			 Y08—QC1 South Lancashire HA 102 0 0 1.5 
			 Y08—QC2 Liverpool HA 707 253 36 1.0 
			 Y08—QC3 Manchester Health 2,069 520 25 1.0 
			 Y08—QC4 Morecambe Bay HA 309 60 19 0.7 
			 Y08—QC5 St. Helen's and Knowsley HA 235 33 14 0.8 
			 Y08—QC6 Salford and Trafford HA 513 100 19 0.9 
			 Y08—QC7 Sefton HA 299 25 8 0.5 
			 Y08—QC8 Stockport HA 405 31 8 1.1 
			 Y08—QC9 West Pennine HA 263 21 8 0.5 
			 Y08—QCT Bury and Rochdale HA 42 3 7 0.1 
			 Y08—QCV North Cheshire Health 143 26 18 0.4 
			 Y08—QCW South Cheshire HA 1,031 316 31 1.9 
			 Y08—QCX East Lancashire 437 45 10 0.8 
			 Y08—QCY North West Lancashire HA 583 31 5 0.5 
			 Y08—QDA Wigan and Bolton HA 621 207 33 1.1 
			 Y08—QDC Wirral Health 87 28 32 0.3 
			 Y09—QA6 Bedfordshire HA 368 36 10 1.0 
			 Y09—QAX North Essex HA 1,266 271 21 1.9 
			 Y09—QAY South Essex HA 1,045 55 5 2.0 
			 Y09—QCF Suffolk Health 509 144 28 1.0 
			 Y09—QEP East and North Hertfordshire HA 532 151 28 1.4 
			 Y09—QEC West Hertfordshire HA 214 13 6 0.6 
			 Y09—QA9 Cambridgeshire HA 1,449 402 28 1.6 
			 Y09—QCA Norfolk HA 796 112 14 0.8 
			 Y010—QA2 Hillingdon HA 423 4 1 2.7 
			 Y10—QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 577 89 15 0.7 
			 Y10—QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA 551 181 33 2.7 
			 Y10—QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA 938 334 36 2.3 
			 Y10—QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA 235 0 0 0.7 
			 Y10—QAC Bromley HA 371 47 13 1.4 
			 Y10—QAD Croydon HA 603 203 34 2.6 
			 Y10—QAG Kingston and Richmond HA 392 58 15 1.1 
			 Y10—QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA 1,067 320 30 1.2 
			 Y10—QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA 1,211 328 27 1.7 
			 Y10—QAP Barking and Havering HA 665 235 35 2.2 
			 Y10—QAQ Barnet HA(117) 0 0 0 0.0 
			 Y10—QAR Brent and Harrow HA(118) 784 307 39 2.1 
			 Y10—QAT Camden and Islington HA 1,612 355 22 1.3 
			 Y10—QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA 678 205 30 1.1 
			 Y10—QAW East London and The City HA 919 670 73 1.5 
			 Y11—QA7 Berkshire HA 1,272 27 2 1.9 
			 Y11—QA8 Buckinghamshire HA 903 112 12 2.0 
			 Y11—QAE East Kent HA 799 128 16 1.2 
			 Y11—QAF West Kent HA 1,006 237 24 1.5 
			 Y11—QAK East Surrey HA 342 88 26 1.9 
			 Y11—QAL West Surrey Health Commission 1,564 313 20 2.2 
			 Y11—QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove HA 1,053 459 44 1.6 
			 Y11—QAN West Sussex HA 848 188 22 2.1 
			 Y11—QCC Northamptonshire HA 284 45 16 0.6 
			 Y11—QCE Oxfordshire HA 1,880 491 26 3.0 
			 Y11—QD1 North and Mid Hampshire HA 454 153 34 1.4 
			 Y11—QD2 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 704 123 17 1.7 
			 Y11—QD3 Southampton and South West Hampshire 1,404 310 22 2.2 
			 Y11—QD4 Isle of Wight HA 110 14 13 0.9 
			 Y12—QD5 Somerset HA 426 129 30 1.0 
			 Y12—QD6 South and West Devon HA 854 136 16 1.0 
			 Y12—QD7 Wiltshire HA 448 173 39 0.6 
			 Y12—QD8 Avon Health 2,102 454 22 2.0 
			 Y12—QDV Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA 589 185 31 1.1 
			 Y12—QDW Dorset HA 1,066 173 16 1.0 
			 Y12—QDX North and East Devon HA 563 128 23 0.9 
			 Y12—QDY Gloucestershire Health 474 34 7 0.7 
		
	
	(117) Figures for Q1 2000–01 reflect changes in local recording and reporting arrangements.
	(118) Includes estimates.
	Note:
	Charter Standard: Operations should not be cancelled (for non-clinical reasons) on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital and that, if this happens, patients should be admitted to hospital within one month of the first cancellation.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QMPC, Hospital Episode Statistics
	
		Cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, health authorities in England, 1998–99
		
			 NHS Region/OrglD Name Number of last minute cancellations for non-clinical reasons in the last year Number of patients not admitted within one month of last minute cancellation Percentage of patients not admitted within one month Last minute cancellations as a percentage of elective admissions 
		
		
			 Y00 England 56,150 9,380 17 1.1 
			   
			 Y01—QDD Bradford HA 438 20 5 0.7 
			 Y01—QDE County Durham HA 347 96 28 0.8 
			 Y01—QDF East Riding HA 277 43 16 0.5 
			 Y01—QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA 112 12 11 0.4 
			 Y01—QDH Leeds HA 1,223 366 30 1.3 
			 Y01—QDJ Newcastle and North Tyneside HA 863 73 8 1.0 
			 Y01—QDK North Cumbria HA 349 35 10 1.1 
			 Y01—QDM Northumberland HA 84 3 4 0.2 
			 Y01—QDN Sunderland HA 260 2 1 0.6 
			 Y01—QDP Tees HA 651 83 13 0.8 
			 Y01—QDQ Wakefield HA 546 28 5 1.5 
			 Y01—QDR North Yorkshire HA 775 76 10 1.1 
			 Y01—QDT Calderdale and Kirklees HA 574 28 5 1.1 
			 Y02—QCG Barnsley HA 35 8 23 0.2 
			 Y02—QCH North Derbyshire Health 307 0 0 1.3 
			 Y02—QCJ Southern Derbyshire Health 47 0 0 0.1 
			 Y02—QCK Doncaster HA 124 9 7 0.4 
			 Y02—QCL Leicester HA 853 84 10 0.9 
			 Y02—QCM Lincolnshire Health 922 104 11 1.8 
			 Y02—QCN North Nottinghamshire Health 119 3 3 0.3 
			 Y02—QCP Nottingham HA 775 0 0 0.9 
			 Y02—QCQ Rotherham HA 123 21 17 0.7 
			 Y02—QCR Sheffield Health 710 14 2 0.8 
			 Y02—QDL South Humber HA 274 1 0 0.7 
			 Y07—QD9 Birmingham HA 2,358 11 0 1.6 
			 Y07—QEA Coventry Health 1,510 471 38 3.7 
			 Y07—QEC Dudley HA 163 33 20 0.4 
			 Y07—QED Herefordshire HA 46 0 0 0.3 
			 Y07—QEE Sandwell HA 97 22 23 0.5 
			 Y07—QEF Shropshire HA 325 296 91 0.8 
			 Y07—QEG Solihull HA — — — — 
			 Y07—QEH North Staffordshire HA 498 24 5 1.0 
			 Y07—QEJ South Staffordshire HA 152 48 32 0.3 
			 Y07—QEK Walsall HA 114 0 0 0.6 
			 Y07—QEL Warwickshire HA 219 0 0 0.6 
			 Y07—QEM Wolverhampton HA 100 10 10 0.3 
			 Y07—QEN Worcestershire HA 253 44 17 0.6 
			 Y08—QC1 South Lancashire HA 99 5 5 0.4 
			 Y08—QC2 Liverpool HA 734 144 20 1.1 
			 Y08—QC3 Manchester Health 1,600 187 12 0.8 
			 Y08—QC4 Morecambe Bay HA 154 18 12 0.4 
			 Y08—QC5 St. Helen's and Knowsley HA 203 54 28 0.7 
			 Y08—QC6 Salford and Trafford HA 527 99 19 1.0 
			 Y08—QC7 Sefton HA 261 51 20 0.5 
			 Y08—QC8 Stockport HA 323 78 24 1.0 
			 Y08—QC9 West Pennine HA 285 10 4 0.6 
			 Y08—QCT Bury and Rochdale HA 45 1 2 0.1 
			 Y08—QCV North Cheshire Health 168 30 18 0.5 
			 Y08—QCW South Cheshire HA 815 131 21 1.0 
			 Y08—QCX East Lancashire 456 40 9 0.8 
			 Y08—QCY North West Lancashire HA 380 15 4 0.4 
			 Y08—QDA Wigan and Bolton HA 488 136 28 0.9 
			 Y08—QDC Wirral Health 65 24 37 0.2 
			 Y09—QA6 Bedfordshire HA 457 26 6 1.2 
			 Y09—QAX North Essex HA 1,000 98 10 1.4 
			 Y09—QAY South Essex HA 1,260 27 2 2.4 
			 Y09—QCF Suffolk Health 246 33 13 0.5 
			 Y09—QEP East and North Hertfordshire HA 592 131 22 1.6 
			 Y09—QEC West Hertfordshire HA 569 142 25 1.5 
			 Y09—QA9 Cambridgeshire HA 255 55 22 0.3 
			 Y09—QCA Norfolk HA 1,863 495 27 1.9 
			 Y010—QA2 Hillingdon HA 437 33 8 3.4 
			 Y10—QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 372 127 34 0.4 
			 Y10—QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA 632 106 17 1.9 
			 Y10—QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA 594 138 23 1.5 
			 Y10—QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA 289 9 3 0.9 
			 Y10—QAC Bromley HA 54 22 34 2.1 
			 Y10—QAD Croydon HA 433 170 39 2.1 
			 Y10—QAG Kingston and Richmond HA 437 169 39 3.3 
			 Y10—QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA 944 160 17 1.1 
			 Y10—QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA 850 224 26 1.4 
			 Y10—QAP Barking and Havering HA 834 73 9 2.6 
			 Y10—QAQ Barnet HA(119) 0 0 0 0.0 
			 Y10—QAR Brent and Harrow HA(120) 530 141 27 1.3 
			 Y10—QAT Camden and Islington HA 1,267 336 27 1.0 
			 Y10—QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA 683 58 8 1.1 
			 Y10—QAW East London and The City HA 996 359 36 1.6 
			 Y11—QA7 Berkshire HA 1,019 17 2 1.6 
			 Y11—QA8 Buckinghamshire HA 640 75 12 1.5 
			 Y11—QAE East Kent HA 432 101 23 0.7 
			 Y11—QAF West Kent HA 1,006 248 25 1.5 
			 Y11—QAK East Surrey HA 794 143 18 3.2 
			 Y11—QAL West Surrey Health Commission 1,192 236 20 1.7 
			 Y11—QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove HA 1,148 403 35 1.9 
			 Y11—QAN West Sussex HA 664 101 15 1.2 
			 Y11—QCC Northamptonshire HA 431 100 23 0.8 
			 Y11—QCE Oxfordshire HA 1,849 342 18 3.0 
			 Y11—QD1 North and Mid Hampshire HA 378 112 30 0.9 
			 Y11—QD2 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 340 53 16 0.7 
			 Y11—QD3 Southampton and South West Hampshire 1,381 268 19 2.2 
			 Y11—QD4 Isle of Wight HA 124 8 6 1.0 
			 Y12—QD5 Somerset HA 335 52 16 0.7 
			 Y12—QD6 South and West Devon HA 719 42 6 0.9 
			 Y12—QD7 Wiltshire HA 664 286 43 0.9 
			 Y12—QD8 Avon Health 1,897 235 12 1.7 
			 Y12—QDV Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA 229 47 21 0.5 
			 Y12—QDW Dorset HA 948 125 13 1.0 
			 Y12—QDX North and East Devon HA 389 55 14 0.6 
			 Y12—QDY Gloucestershire Health 465 8 2 0.7 
		
	
	(119) Figures for Q1 2000–01 reflect changes in local recording and reporting arrangements.
	(120) Includes estimates.
	Note:
	Charter Standard: Operations should not be cancelled (for non-clinical reasons) on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital and that, if this happens, patients should be admitted to hospital within one month of the first cancellation.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QMPC, Hospital Episode Statistics
	
		Cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, health authorities in England, 1997–98
		
			 NHS Region/OrglD Name Number of last minute cancellations for non-clinical reasons in the last year Number of patients not admitted within one month of last minute cancellation Percentage of patients not admitted within one month Last minute cancellations as a percentage of elective admissions 
		
		
			 Y00 England 50,505 7,250 14 1.0 
			   
			 Y01—QDD Bradford HA 749 40 5 1.2 
			 Y01—QDE County Durham HA 169 3 2 0.4 
			 Y01—QDF East Riding HA 260 33 13 0.5 
			 Y01—QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA 90 9 10 0.3 
			 Y01—QDH Leeds HA 1,364 372 27 1.5 
			 Y01—QDJ Newcastle and North Tyneside HA 987 62 6 0.9 
			 Y01—QDK North Cumbria HA 243 23 9 0.8 
			 Y01—QDM Northumberland HA 52 3 6 0.3 
			 Y01—QDN Sunderland HA 202 0 0 0.5 
			 Y01—QDP Tees HA 394 45 11 0.5 
			 Y01—QDQ Wakefield HA 896 128 14 2.7 
			 Y01—QDR North Yorkshire HA 539 60 11 0.8 
			 Y01—QDT Calderdale and Kirklees HA 479 26 5 1.0 
			 Y02—QCG Barnsley HA 70 8 11 0.4 
			 Y02—QCH North Derbyshire Health 348 0 0 1.7 
			 Y02—QCJ Southern Derbyshire Health 77 0 0 0.2 
			 Y02—QCK Doncaster HA 291 19 7 0.9 
			 Y02—QCL Leicester HA 666 38 5 0.9 
			 Y02—QCM Lincolnshire Health 646 21 3 1.4 
			 Y02—QCN North Nottinghamshire Health 118 0 0 0.4 
			 Y02—QCP Nottingham HA 1,188 0 0 1.7 
			 Y02—QCQ Rotherham HA 97 15 15 0.6 
			 Y02—QCR Sheffield Health 427 16 4 0.5 
			 Y02—QDL South Humber HA 193 0 0 0.6 
			 Y07—QD9 Birmingham HA 1,973 19 1 1.5 
			 Y07—QEA Coventry Health 961 297 31 2.8 
			 Y07—QEC Dudley HA 172 39 23 0.5 
			 Y07—QED Herefordshire HA 86 0 0 0.6 
			 Y07—QEE Sandwell HA 136 47 35 0.8 
			 Y07—QEF Shropshire HA 409 147 36 1.1 
			 Y07—QEG Solihull HA — — — — 
			 Y07—QEH North Staffordshire HA 395 100 25 0.8 
			 Y07—QEJ South Staffordshire HA 23 15 65 0.0 
			 Y07—QEK Walsall HA 103 0 0 0.5 
			 Y07—QEL Warwickshire HA 211 10 5 0.5 
			 Y07—QEM Wolverhampton HA 97 18 19 0.3 
			 Y07—QEN Worcestershire HA 242 44 18 0.6 
			 Y08—QC1 South Lancashire HA 89 2 2 0.4 
			 Y08—QC2 Liverpool HA 949 136 15 1.4 
			 Y08—QC3 Manchester Health 1,404 267 19 0.7 
			 Y08—QC4 Morecambe Bay HA 135 8 6 0.3 
			 Y08—QC5 St. Helen's and Knowsley HA 92 7 8 0.3 
			 Y08—QC6 Salford and Trafford HA 539 69 13 1.0 
			 Y08—QC7 Sefton HA 248 24 10 0.5 
			 Y08—QC8 Stockport HA 487 91 19 1.6 
			 Y08—QC9 West Pennine HA 302 2 1 0.7 
			 Y08—QCT Bury and Rochdale HA 99 0 0 0.3 
			 Y08—QCV North Cheshire Health 287 17 6 1.0 
			 Y08—QCW South Cheshire HA 302 69 23 0.6 
			 Y08—QCX East Lancashire 351 29 8 0.7 
			 Y08—QCY North West Lancashire HA 478 0 0 0.5 
			 Y08—QDA Wigan and Bolton HA 322 35 11 0.6 
			 Y08—QDC Wirral Health 108 55 51 0.3 
			 Y09—QA6 Bedfordshire HA 347 67 19 1.1 
			 Y09—QAX North Essex HA 700 78 11 1.1 
			 Y09—QAY South Essex HA 767 25 3 1.7 
			 Y09—QCF Suffolk Health 169 38 22 0.4 
			 Y09—QEP East and North Hertfordshire HA 624 117 19 1.9 
			 Y09—QEC West Hertfordshire HA 426 112 26 1.0 
			 Y09—QA9 Cambridgeshire HA 142 11 8 0.2 
			 Y09—QCA Norfolk HA 1,376 277 20 1.4 
			 Y010—QA2 Hillingdon HA 698 55 8 2.8 
			 Y10—QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 314 100 32 0.4 
			 Y10—QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA 633 156 25 1.9 
			 Y10—QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA 337 79 23 0.9 
			 Y10—QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA 316 5 2 1.1 
			 Y10—QAC Bromley HA 155 0 0 0.7 
			 Y10—QAD Croydon HA 544 121 22 2.6 
			 Y10—QAG Kingston and Richmond HA 182 43 24 2.2 
			 Y10—QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA 1,213 190 16 1.5 
			 Y10—QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA 887 335 38 1.8 
			 Y10—QAP Barking and Havering HA 691 81 12 2.4 
			 Y10—QAQ Barnet HA(121) 24 1 4 0.2 
			 Y10—QAR Brent and Harrow HA(122) 363 138 38 1.0 
			 Y10—QAT Camden and Islington HA 1,637 327 20 1.3 
			 Y10—QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA 580 61 11 0.9 
			 Y10—QAW East London and The City HA 786 187 24 1.3 
			 Y11—QA7 Berkshire HA 930 107 12 1.7 
			 Y11—QA8 Buckinghamshire HA 897 82 9 2.1 
			 Y11—QAE East Kent HA 355 17 5 0.6 
			 Y11—QAF West Kent HA 715 85 12 1.1 
			 Y11—QAK East Surrey HA 524 119 23 2.3 
			 Y11—QAL West Surrey Health Commission 1,576 311 20 2.3 
			 Y11—QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove HA 644 103 16 1.1 
			 Y11—QAN West Sussex HA 693 118 17 1.3 
			 Y11—QCC Northamptonshire HA 225 60 27 0.5 
			 Y11—QCE Oxfordshire HA 1,957 388 20 3.3 
			 Y11—QD1 North and Mid Hampshire HA 194 23 12 0.8 
			 Y11—QD2 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 418 18 4 0.9 
			 Y11—QD3 Southampton and South West Hampshire 1,345 236 18 2.2 
			 Y11—QD4 Isle of Wight HA 129 4 3 1.1 
			 Y12—QD5 Somerset HA 272 50 18 0.7 
			 Y12—QD6 South and West Devon HA 524 13 2 0.7 
			 Y12—QD7 Wiltshire HA 413 129 31 0.8 
			 Y12—QD8 Avon Health 1,364 155 11 1.3 
			 Y12—QDV Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA 282 67 24 0.8 
			 Y12—QDW Dorset HA 802 32 4 0.9 
			 Y12—QDX North and East Devon HA 316 46 15 0.5 
			 Y12—QDY Gloucestershire Health 474 15 3 0.8 
		
	
	(121) Figures for Q1 2000–01 reflect changes in local recording and reporting arrangements.
	(122) Includes estimates.
	Note:
	Charter Standard: Operations should not be cancelled (for non-clinical reasons) on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital and that, if this happens, patients should be admitted to hospital within one month of the first cancellation.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QMPC, Hospital Episode Statistics

Cancelled Operations

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled or delayed in each of the last 12 months in each health authority in England.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled more than one day before the due date, broken down by health authority in the last 12 months.

John Hutton: Copies of quarterly statistics on cancelled operations by health authority are available in the Library. The publication gives the number of operations cancelled (for non-medical reasons) on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital or on the day of the operation.

Treatment Costs

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average gross cost in pounds per course of treatment in England for (a) children and (b) adults in 2000–01.

John Hutton: The costs of courses of treatments for adults and children are not routinely recorded at national level.
	The NHS records different elements of care in different ways. Inpatient and day case treatments are counted using Finished Consultant Episodes. In 2000–01, the average costs for an Inpatient Episode and a Day Case Episode are £1,188 and £386 respectively.
	Outpatient attendances are reported separately and reported on a cost per attendance basis. In 2000–01, the average cost per attendance, across all specialties was £78. It is not possible from current data to split these costs between adults and children.
	The NHS records activity and costs at a more detailed level than the aggregate costs shown above. The average unit costs of individual treatments, procedures and types of appointments etc. for each NHS provider are collected annually. From this data national average unit costs are produced and published annually. This detailed cost and activity data is published in the Reference Costs publication and can be combined in various combinations to reflect the course of treatment for individual conditions. These costs do not include associated costs incurred in general practice.
	Full details of these unit costs for 2000–01 can be found in the Reference Costs 2001 publication located in the Library. This information is also made more widely available through the Department's Internet site at www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexec/refcosts.htm.

Food Supplements

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed EU Directive on Foods and Supplements on the ability of patients who choose to treat themselves to continue to do so; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: The proposed Directive would establish lists of permitted vitamin and mineral sources and a framework for setting maximum permitted levels. The lists would remain open for seven years pending safety assessments for additional substances, and individual maximum permitted levels have not yet been set. The Directive would not immediately outlaw any products that are currently on the market in the United Kingdom; in the longer term its impact would depend on future developments on additions to the lists and setting of maximum levels.

Food Supplements

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he plans to take to implement the EU Directive on Food Supplements; what impact the Directive will have on the continued availability of products that can currently be used; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: The Government intend to implement the proposed EU Directive as agreed, taking full advantage of the opportunity we have secured for Member States to allow continued sale for up to seven years of products containing vitamin and mineral sources not on the permitted lists. The Food Standards Agency is responsible for preparing implementing legislation and will be consulting widely on draft Regulations.
	The impact of the Directive on the continued availability of products currently on the market would depend on future developments on maximum limits and lists of permitted nutrients. We are firmly committed to the view that, in the interests of consumer choice, the law should allow food supplements which are safe and properly labelled to be freely marketed.

Food Supplements

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received regarding the EU Directive on Food Supplements; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: Several letters and telephone calls have been received recently from industry, consumers and health practitioners such as nutrition therapists. Broadly, these have expressed concerns over the potential for the Directive on food supplements to restrict the availability of some vitamin and mineral supplements, especially those which contain high doses of individual nutrients.

Public Service Agreements

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public service agreements his Department (a) passed and (b) failed to meet in each year since 1999; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Information about progress on public service agreements targets has been published in the department's Departmental Reports for 2000 and 2001. Further details will be published in the next Departmental Report, due in spring 2002.

Work Loads

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he collates on the average lifetime workload of (a) general practitioners, (b) hospital doctors and (c) nurses.

John Hutton: The Department does not currently hold this kind of data. The NHS workforce censuses do identify individuals, and in theory it is possible to track doctors through their working life over time. However, this data source has only existed since 1987, and does not provide enough data to allow us to analyse doctors' whole careers.
	This type of analysis may be possible in the future. The Electronic Staff Record, which is anticipated to be fully operational from early 2005, should enable more direct analyses of flows of staff into and out of the NHS. The Department is investigating the practicality of this.
	The Department is aware of the importance of participation rates and lifetime working patterns to inform workforce planning. It uses labour force survey data and reviews labour market research to estimate average wastage rates from the qualified workforce. The average wastage rate reveals how many people we might expect to lose from the workforce each year, before we add in the new qualifiers.

Health Ladder Programme

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the future arrangements for the Health Ladder programme as it affects Waltham Forest; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: From 1 April 2002, accountability for the SRB Health Ladder Scheme in Redbridge and Waltham Forest will transfer from Redbridge and Waltham Forest health authority to the North East London Strategic health authority.
	The scheme's management team will be transferred to the North East London NHS Workforce Confederation.
	The team will continue to be based locally in Becketts House in Ilford and the work will continue to be overseen by a local Partnership Board.

Lou Gehrig's Disease

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the United Kingdom by nation and region, are diagnosed as having Lou Gehrig's disease; and what percentage of these are veterans of the Gulf War in the last year for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: pursuant to her reply, 14 January 2002, c. 65–66
	I regret that my previous reply was incorrect.
	Lou Gehrig's disease is classified as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in this country and there are between 5,000 and 6,000 sufferers of MND in the UK. Worldwide, the annual incidence of MND is estimated to be 1.5 new cases per 100,000 people. To date, the Ministry of Defence is aware of four veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict who have been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, three of whom have died. The table shows the hospital admission figures for motor neurone disease in 2000–2001.
	
		Admissions for motor neurone disease by region of residence -- Nhs Hospitals, England 2000–01
		
			   Number 
		
		
			 Northern and Yorkshire Regional Office 396 
			 Trent Regional Office 330 
			 West Midlands Regional Office 169 
			 North West Regional Office 320 
			 Eastern Regional Office 347 
			 London Regional Office 269 
			 South East Regional Office 359 
			 South West Regional Office 295 
			 England(NOS) 1 
			 Scotland 2 
			 Wales 16 
			 Foreign 6 
			 Not known 4 
			  
			 Total 2,514

Hospitals (Shropshire)

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the specialties provided at (a) the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and (b) the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford.

Yvette Cooper: The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital provides the following inpatient specialties:
	General Surgery
	Urology
	Trauma and Orthopaedics
	ENT
	Ophthalmology
	Oral Surgery
	Anaesthetics
	General Medicine
	Gastroenterology
	Haematology (Clinical)
	Cardiology
	Dermatology
	Medical Oncology
	Neurology
	Paediatrics
	Obstetrics for patients using a hospital bed or delivery facilities
	Gynaecology
	General Practice with Maternity Function
	Radiotherapy.
	The Princess Royal Hospital provides the following in-patient specialties:
	General Surgery
	Urology
	Trauma and Orthopaedics
	ENT
	Ophthalmology
	Oral Surgery
	Plastic Surgery
	Anaesthetics
	Pain Management
	General Medicine
	Haematology (Clinical)
	Dermatology
	Neurology
	Paediatrics
	Gynaecology
	Note:
	The specialties were present for the year 2000–01. Specialties recorded for fewer than six in-patient episodes have been omitted.

Hospitals (Shropshire)

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) consultants, (b) doctors and (c) nurses there are at (i) the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and (ii) the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford.

Yvette Cooper: The information is shown in the table.
	
		NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS): Medical and dental staff and nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed by the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital NHS Trust and the Princess Royal Hospital NHS Trust as at 30 September 2001
		
			  Headcount 
		
		
			 Royal Shrewsbury Hospital NHS Trust  
			 Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 1,000 
			 of which:  
			 Qualified 930 
			   
			 Medical and dental staff 160 
			 of which:  
			 Consultants 100 
			 Princess Royal Hospital NHS Trust  
			 Nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 480 
			 of which:  
			 Qualified 420 
			   
			 Medical and dental staff 140 
			 of which:  
			 Consultants 40 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	2. Figures exclude learners and agency staff.
	Sources:
	1. Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.
	2. Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census.

Air Pollution

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has collated on the threat to human health from emissions of (a) benzene and (b) 1,3 butadiene, (c) particulates (i) PM10 and (ii) PM2.5, (d) carbon monoxide, (e) sulphur dioxide and (f) oxides of nitrogen from road transport; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: The Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) and its predecessor the Advisory Group on the Medical Aspects of Air Pollution has collated information and written subsequent reports on:
	Oxides of Nitrogen
	Sulphur Dioxide, Acid Aerosols and Particulates
	Health Effects of Exposures to Mixtures of Air Pollutants
	Non-Biological Particles and Health
	Asthma and Outdoor Air Pollution
	Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution on Health in the United Kingdom (this report covers particles, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide)
	Long-term Effects of Particles on Mortality.
	COMEAP has also written Handbook on Air Pollution and Health. Details of these publications are available from the Department's website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/hef/airpol/ airpolh.htm.
	The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (DEFRA) Committee, the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS), which has a joint DH/DEFRA Secretariat, has also written reports on:
	Benzene
	1, 3-Butadiene Particulates (2 reports, the latest including PM2.5 as well as PM 1 0 )
	Carbon Monoxide
	Sulphur Dioxide
	Nitrogen Dioxide.
	These reports cover the effects of health of each of the substances and further details about each report can be found on DEFRA's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/airquality/index.htm.
	These reports provide support for the objectives in The Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These objectives aim to reduce levels of these pollutants from all sources, including road transport.

Health Services (Barnet)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the demands on health services in (a) Barnet and (b) Hendon of (i) the growth in population in the last 10 years and (ii) the predicted growth in population over the next 15 years; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: It is anticipated that the overall population of Barnet will grow over the next 15 years by around 12 per cent. (ONS). Barnet Primary Care Trust is currently finalising a health improvement and modernisation plan which sets out principal areas for action over the coming years to improve the health and well being of the people of Barnet. This takes account of the needs of the local population (including population size, deprivation and other determinants of health), as well as national requirements. As well as taking forward plans for NHS modernisation, key priority area for action have identified as:
	Smoking
	Health development and community development
	Coronary heart disease and stroke
	Cancer
	Diabetes
	Children
	Accidents.

Health Services (Barnet)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the number of people in (a) Barnet and (b) Hendon who are not registered with a GP; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Edgware Hospital

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress towards the new hospital development at Edgware.

John Hutton: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave on 26 March 2002, Official Report, column 699.

Nurse Training

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurse training organisations were operating the new model of nurse education and training outlined in the NHS Plan by Q3 2001–02.

John Hutton: A total of 54 higher education institutions had been approved by the former English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (ENB) to deliver the new pre-registration nursing programmes at diploma and/or degree level—equating to over 95 per cent. of existing organisations.

Health Inequalities

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what national targets have been developed by stakeholders to narrow the health gap (a) in childhood and (b) throughout life between socio-economic groups.

Yvette Cooper: Following the comment made in the NHS Plan, the two national health inequalities targets were announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in February 2001, and are as follows:
	(a) Starting with children under one year, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10 per cent. the gap in mortality between manual groups and the population as a whole.
	(b) Starting with health authorities, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10 per cent. the gap between the fifth of areas with the lowest life expectancy at birth and the population as a whole

Negligence Compensation

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, by regional health authority, the compensation payments paid to members of the general public in response to claims of negligence upheld against the authority in (a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000 and (e) 2000–01.

Hazel Blears: Regional health authorities were abolished in 1996 by the Health Authorities Act 1995. It is not therefore possible to break down figures relating to clinical negligence by regional health authority.
	Overall figures for expenditure on clinical negligence are available for the following years, as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
		
		
			 1996–97 235 
			 1997–98 144 
			 1998–99 221 
			 1999–2000 373 
		
	
	Note:
	The figure for the year 2000–2001 is not yet available.
	The figures are taken from the National Audit Summarised Accounts for health authorities, NHS trusts and NHS Litigation Authority. Changes to accounting policies mean that these amounts are not directly comparable.
	These figures represent all expenditure for clinical negligence which will include compensation payments and legal expenses. Figures relating specifically to compensation payments for successful clinical negligence claims against NHS bodies are not available.

Fertility Treatment

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS trusts provided IVF treatment on the NHS as of 1 March; how many patients have received IVF treatment in the last year; how many patients he expects to be provided with IVF treatment in the next year; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: A baseline survey of national health service infertility provision was carried out by the Department in 1999. The report on "Survey of NHS Infertility Services 1997–98" has been published and copies are available in the Library. Information about the number of patients who have received IVF treatment in the last year will be made available shortly by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Cancer

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps he has taken to improve the cervical cancer screening programme.

Yvette Cooper: The Government are currently piloting new technologies in order to improve the cervical screening programme. These are Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing. If evaluation proves that the pilots are successful, and if recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, they will be introduced across the NHS.

Cancer

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what extra major pieces of diagnostic equipment have been purchased under the Cancer Plan.

Yvette Cooper: The NHS Cancer Plan provided details of diagnostic equipment to be purchased for the NHS. This included 88 MRI scanners, 200 CT scanners and over 300 items of breast screening equipment.
	Programmes to deliver this essential equipment are well under way. By March 2002, 28 new MRI scanners, 81 CT scanners and almost all of the breast screening equipment had been delivered to the NHS. The remaining equipment is due for delivery by 2004.
	As well as investment in diagnostic radiology equipment, the NHS Cancer Plan makes a commitment to providing £15 million for the modernisation of 23 pathology services.

Dentistry

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines exist for NHS dentists concerning the removal of wisdom teeth.

Hazel Blears: In March 2000, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued the following guidance.
	1.1 The routine practice of prophylactic removal of pathology-free impacted third molars should be discontinued in the NHS.
	1.2 The standard routine programme of dental care by dental practitioners and/or paraprofessional staff, need be no different, in general, for pathology free impacted third molars (those requiring no additional investigations or procedures).
	1.3 Surgical removal of impacted third molars should be limited to patients with evidence of pathology. Such pathology includes unrestorable caries, non-treatable pulpal and/or periapical pathology, cellulitis, abcess and osteomyelitis, internal/external resorption of the tooth or adjacent teeth, fracture of tooth, disease of follicle including cyst/tumour, tooth/teeth impeding surgery or reconstructive jaw surgery, and when a tooth is involved in or within the field of tumour resection.
	1.4 Specific attention is drawn to plaque formation and pericoronitis. Plaque formation is a risk factor but is not in itself an indication for surgery. The degree to which the severity or recurrence rate of pericoronitis should influence the decision for surgical removal of a third molar remains unclear. The evidence suggests that a first episode of pericoronitis, unless particularly severe, should not be considered an indication for surgery. Second or subsequent episodes should be considered the appropriate indication for surgery.

BSE

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the (a) operation and (b) effectiveness of the Beef Assurance Scheme in the prevention of BSE infected cattle entering the food chain; and what proportion of the cattle slaughtered for human consumption in the last year for which figures are available were produced under the Beef Assurance Scheme.

Yvette Cooper: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that while normally animals over 30 months are not permitted to enter the food chain under the Beef Assurance Scheme (BAS) certain cattle exceptionally may do so up to the age of 42 months. Under the scheme, a number of stringent conditions apply, for example that cattle must be drawn entirely from specialist grass reared beef herds known not to have consumed mammalian meat and bone meal. In addition, in common with other cattle, certain specified risk material where any BSE infectivity is thought likely to reside, must also be removed. There have been no clinical cases of BSE in bona fide BAS herds.
	From 1 January 2001, EU rules were introduced to require all cattle over 30 months of age—including those registered under the BAS—to be tested for BSE and only enter the food chain if found negative. The agency has advised that 20 BAS cattle entered the human food chain last year without having been tested in this way. Prior to 2001, these animals were regarded as sufficiently low-risk to enter the human food chain without testing.
	There are currently 66 BAS herds in Great Britain. The total number of BAS cattle is 4,000, out of a total UK herd of 5.3 million. Last year 181 cattle were slaughtered for human consumption under the scheme.

Parliamentary Questions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to improve the response time to parliamentary questions.

Hazel Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Mr. Milburn) gave the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) on 25 March 2002, Official Report, columns 756W-59W).

Prescribing Rate

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general prescribing rate for all practices was in 2001–02.

Hazel Blears: The average number of prescription items per head of population dispensed in the community in England in the period October 2000 to September 2001 was 11.5.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if the PSA target to improve continuity of care given to children looked after by local authorities by reducing to no more than 18 per cent. in all authorities the proportion of such children who leave three or more placements in one year by 2001 was achieved;
	(2)  if the PSA target to increase to at least 50 per cent. by 2001 the proportions of children leaving care aged 16 or above with nine GCSE or GNVQ qualifications was met;
	(3)  if the PSA target to increase to at least 75 per cent. by 2003 the proportion of children leaving care aged 16 or above with a GCSE or GNVQ qualification will be met.

Jacqui Smith: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 Departmental Report.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to reduce the national average emergency psychiatric re-admission rate by two percentage points by 2002 will be met.

Jacqui Smith: The most recent assessment made on whether the PSA target to reduce the national average emergency psychiatric re-admission rate by two percentage points by 2002 will be met is shown in the table. This indicates that the target was achieved for the third quarter of 2001–02 but that the current forecast is for the average for the whole year to be 0.4 percentage points above the target reduction.
	
		Number of emergency psychiatric re-admissions of patients aged 16 to 64 within 90 days of discharge from the care of a psychiatric specialist as a percentage of such discharges
		
			  Number of re-admissions within 90 days Total number of discharges Re-admission rate (percentage) 
		
		
			 Total
			 1998–99 15,461 113,585 13.60 
			 1999–2000 14,875 114,616 13.00 
			 2000–01 14,068 110,312 12.80 
			 
			 Q3
			 QA 2001–02(123) 3,214 26,119 12.3 
			 FOT 2001–02(124) 13,377 105,735 12.7 
		
	
	(123) Actual position for Q3 2001–02 (relates to quarter 3 only).
	(124) Forecast outturn position for 2001–02 taken at Q3 (relates to whole year).
	Source:
	Common Information Core, (now known as Service and Financial Framework Return—SaFFR).

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if the PSA target for the appointment of new practice nurses by 2002 will be met on time;
	(2)  if the PSA target for the improvement of the quality of primary care premises targeted towards areas of deprivation will be met on time;
	(3)  if the PSA target of a national average annual increase of 1 per cent. whole-time equivalent GPs by 2002 will be met on time.

John Hutton: We are on track to achieve each of these targets.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to review at least 60 per cent. of services will be met.

Jacqui Smith: Information about progress on public service agreement targets, including Better Quality Services, will be published in the Department's 2002 Departmental report.

PFI Projects

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated average cost of preparing and submitting tenders for PFI projects in his Department; and how much he expects to spend reimbursing such costs under the PFI hospital building programme to be completed by 2010.

John Hutton: Information on the costs to the private sector of preparing and submitting tenders is not collected. There has been no change in policy regarding the reimbursement of bid costs. At present, the winning contractor recovers their bid costs as part of the overall tender price. Losing bidders are not reimbursed.
	Following a review of the PFI process, with the objective of speeding up and simplifying the PFI process, two changes were announced on 18 March. Firstly, if Trusts require further clarification after Best and Final Offers (BAFOs) have been submitted, and Trusts want these clarifications to be undertaken by both bidders in a competitive environment, then the additional bid costs of both bidders will have to be refunded. Trusts will need to agree how these additional costs will be calculated. The reimbursement only applies to the additional cost of the clarification work done in a competitive situation. The second change is that a budget for bid costs will be set at BAFO stage, within which the winning bidder will have to keep. If their costs to financial close are less, then they keep the difference. If they are greater, the cost must be met by them. The losing bidder will not be entitled to receive anything as by definition they cannot reach financial close.
	These changes have been made to incentivise both Trusts and the private sector to reach financial close. As overall costs will be less as a result of these changes, no estimates of cost have been prepared.

Mixed-Sex Wards

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to end the use of mixed sex wards in NHS hospitals in England.

Hazel Blears: Guidance on maintaining privacy and dignity was first issued to the service in 1997 and since then the national health service has been working towards a clear target to eliminate mixed sex accommodation in 95 per cent. of NHS trusts by December 2002.

Testicular Cancer

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement as to what measures are being taken to raise awareness of testicular cancer and the importance of self-checking, with specific reference to men aged under 35 years.

Yvette Cooper: The consensus among health professionals is that promoting testicular awareness is the most effective way to tackle this disease. The Department contributed to the recent production of Cancer Research UK's leaflet "Testicular Cancer—spot the symptoms". Copies are available in the Library and will soon be available on both Cancer Research UK's and the Department's websites.

Complaints Procedures

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to expedite the procedures for investigating complaints against NHS medical staff who have been suspended.

Hazel Blears: We are currently in the process of considering reforms to the NHS complaints procedure, including the need to ensure that complaints are resolved as quickly as possible. We are also reviewing the current guidance on suspensions to ensure that cases where the clinical performance of a doctor or dentist gives concern will be dealt with quickly in a fair and effective manner.

Hysterectomies

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women in England were given hysterectomies in an NHS hospital in the latest year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: The following information is extracted from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system, which contains details of patients admitted to, and treated in, NHS hospitals in England.
	
		
			  Number of hysterectomy operations 
		
		
			 1999–2000 53,132 
			 2000–01 (125)47,053 
		
	
	(125) Provisional. The figure for 2000–01 has not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data. The final figure, therefore, may be higher.

NHS Appointments

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many appointments to positions and bodies within the NHS (a) he and (b) the NHS Appointments Commission have made since the inception of the NHS Appointments Commission;
	(2)  how many people who have been appointed to a position within the NHS by (a) himself and (b) the NHS Appointments Commission have declared a political interest, broken down by political parties; and what proportion of the total number of appointees this represents for each political party between (i) 2 May 1997 and 31 March 2001 and (ii) 1 April 2001 and the latest available date.

Hazel Blears: Since its establishment in April 2001, the National Health Service Appointments Commission has made 1,469 executive appointments to the boards of national health service trusts, primary care trusts, health authorities and strategic health authorities. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made 421 appointments to these boards between 1 April and 2 July. This covered the period where the Commission had been formally established, but when the regional commissioners had not been appointed.
	Information on the political activity of candidates appointed since 2 May 1997 is given in the tables.
	
		Table 1: Secretary of State for Health appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities from 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2001
		
			 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) 
		
		
			 Conservative 286 5.2 
			 Independent 51 0.9 
			 Labour 1,393 25.1 
			 Liberal Democrat 218 3.9 
			 Other 31 0.6 
			
			 Total declaring political interest 1,979 35.7 
			 Not Politically active 3,564 64.3 
			 Total Appointments for Period 5,543 100.0 
		
	
	
		Table 2: Secretary of State for Health appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities from 1 April 2001 to 2 July 2001
		
			 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) 
		
		
			 Conservative 19 4.5 
			 Independent 3 0.7 
			 Labour 106 25.2 
			 Liberal Democrat 12 2.9 
			 Other 3 0.7 
			
			 Total declaring political interest 143 33.9 
			 Not politically active 278 66.1 
			 Total appointments for period 421 100.0 
		
	
	
		Table 3: Appointments Commission appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts, health authorities, strategic health authorities and care trusts from 2 July 2001 to 4 April 2002
		
			 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) 
		
		
			 Conservative 66 4.5 
			 Independent 14 1.0 
			 Labour 389 26.5 
			 Liberal Democrat 65 4.4 
			 Other 7 0.5 
			
			 Total declaring political interest 541 36.8 
			 Not politically active 928 63.2 
			 Total appointments for period 1,469 100.0

Tamoxifen

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost per annum of Tamoxifen for women who do not have breast cancer but are considered to be at high risk.

Yvette Cooper: Tamoxifen is licensed for the treatment of breast cancer and the treatment of anovulatory infertility.
	Tamoxifen is not licensed for the prevention of breast cancer in women who do not have breast cancer. A large international research trial is currently investigating whether tamoxifen can prevent cancer in healthy women who are considered to be at high risk. When the full trial results are published we will consider what action may be appropriate and estimate the cost implications.

Intensive Care Baby Incubators

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive care baby incubators are available for use in London NHS hospitals.

John Hutton: Data on the availability of intensive care incubators are not collected centrally.
	The Department does however have data on the number of neonatal intensive care cots available. There are 146 intensive care cots available at London NHS hospitals.
	The Department also has data on the number of cots designated for providing lesser dependency care.
	There are 82 High Dependency Cots, 333 Special Care Baby cots and 38 Transitional Care Cots.

Ambulance Response Times

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average time is that it took an ambulance to reach an emergency after the initial 999 call is made in (a) England and (b) Greater London over the last 12 months.

Hazel Blears: This information is not collected centrally in this format.
	Information about ambulance response times is contained in the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 2000–01". A copy of the Bulletin is in the Library and available at www.doh.gov.uk/ public/sb0115.htm

Hospital Waiting Times

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients in each of the last 12 months had their first out-patient appointment after waiting (a) less than four, (b) less than eight, (c) less than 12, (d) less than 24 and (e) more than 24 weeks;
	(2)  how many people were waiting 13 weeks or more for an out-patient appointment in England in each of the most recent three quarters;
	(3)  how many patients since 1997 have waited more than 26 weeks for their first out-patient appointment following GP referral;
	(4)  how many patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for their first out-patient appointment following GP referral in each of the last 12 months;
	(5)  how many patients in each of the last six years had their first out-patient appointment after waiting (a) less than four, (b) less than eight, (c) less than 12, (d) less than 24 and (e) more than 24 weeks.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in the tables.
	Table 1 shows the number of patients who had first outpatient appointments (following referral by a GP) at NHS trusts in England, broken down by the available waiting time bands. This information is published on a quarterly basis.
	Table 2 shows the number of patients referred by general practitioners who were on a waiting list for their first outpatient appointment at the end of the quarter, and had been waiting over 13 weeks at that time. This information is also published on a quarterly basis.
	
		Table 1: Number of patients who had a first outpatient appointment in the quarter following GP referral, by time waited: England (NHS trust based)
		
			   Length of wait from GP written referral request to first outpatient appointment (weeks)  
			 Year Quarter 0 to <4 4 to <13 13 to <26 26 plus 
		
		
			 1996–97 1 733,000 854,000 234,000 50,000 
			 1996–97 2 742,000 845,000 265,000 42,000 
			 1996–97 3 773,000 823,000 273,000 53,000 
			 1996–97 4 757,000 806,000 262,000 55,000 
			 1997–98 1 743,000 867,000 234,000 61,000 
			 1997–98 2 727,000 842,000 273,000 55,000 
			 1997–98 3 747,000 790,000 284,000 67,000 
			 1997–98 4 758,000 800,000 284,000 78,000 
			 1998–99 1 690,000 809,000 256,000 72,000 
			 1998–99 2 687,000 816,000 304,000 75,000 
			 1998–99 3 696,000 780,000 329,000 89,000 
			 1998–99 4 704,000 787,000 333,000 106,000 
			 1999–2000 1 647,000 792,000 294,000 105,000 
			 1999–2000 2 664,000 788,000 347,000 109,000 
			 1999–2000 3 687,000 763,000 360,000 126,000 
			 1999–2000 4 693,000 807,000 381,000 147,000 
			 2000–01 1 658,000 823,000 293,000 111,000 
			 2000–01 2 660,000 822,000 358,000 110,000 
			 2000–01 3 695,000 818,000 372,000 120,000 
			 2000–01 4 721,000 873,000 382,000 123,000 
			 2001–02 1 675,000 850,000 289,000 81,000 
			 2001–02 2 678,000 850,000 348,000 85,000 
			 2001–02 3 718,000 840,000 385,000 104,000 
		
	
	Source: Department of Health form QM08
	
		Table 2: Number of patients referred by GPs for first outpatient appointments who had been waiting over 13 weeks at end of quarter: England (NHS trust based)
		
			 Quarter ending Patients waiting over 13 weeks 
		
		
			 March 2001 284,000 
			 June 2001 360,000 
			 September 2001 400,000 
			 December 2001 361,000 
		
	
	Source: Department of Health form QM08

NHS Appointments Commission

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will list the members of the NHS Appointments Commission and their qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the appointment process for the membership of the Commission;
	(2)  how many members of the NHS Appointments Commission have declared themselves to have been politically active in the last five years; and in which political parties they have been active.

Hazel Blears: Details of the chair and members of National Health Service Appointments Commission were given in press releases issued at the time of their appointment. Copies are available in the Library. The chair and all the commissioners declared in their applications that they had not undertaken any political activity in the last five years.
	The appointments process was carried out in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The posts were advertised nationally, and candidates interviewed by properly constituted panels, which included independent members.

London Ambulance Service

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many 999 calls were made to the Greater London Ambulance Service between 20 December 2001 and 3 January 2002 for which it was decided an ambulance was not necessary; and what proportion of calls over this period such calls represented.

Hazel Blears: The London Ambulance Service operates a system of priority despatch, under which all calls are categorised according to their clinical priority. Under this system 6,041 calls received between 20 December 2001 and 3 January 2002 were determined to fall into the categories of neither serious nor life-threatening. This represented 20 per cent. of the total workload for that period.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of patients were seen by a doctor or consultant within one hour of their arrival at accident and emergency in (a) each of the last six years and (b) 2002 to the latest available date.

Hazel Blears: This information requested is not collected centrally.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the latest quarter figures for accident and emergency waiting times.

Hazel Blears: The number of patients admitted through accident and emergency departments for quarter 4 will be released in the "Quarterly Review", which will be pre-announced shortly. The information is collected on the form "Your guide to the NHS". Latest published figures are for quarter 3 and this is available on the Department's website www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average accident and emergency department waiting times were (a) in England, (b) in each region and (c) in each NHS trust in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The average waiting time in accident and emergency units is not collected centrally.

NHS Re-admissions

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS re-admissions there were within (a) one, (b) three, (c) six, (d) eight and (e) 12 months of previous treatment in the last quarter of (i) 2001 and (ii) 1997.

Hazel Blears: This information requested is not held centrally.

Brain Cancers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research is (a) underway and (b) planned to commence this year to develop new and more effective chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of serious brain cancers.

Yvette Cooper: A worldwide review of over 3,000 patients, conducted by the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) and published in The Lancet on 23 March 2002 has found that chemotherapy in addition to surgery and radiotherapy may benefit adult patients with certain types of brain tumour.
	Previously individual trials that assessed the efficacy of giving chemotherapy as well as surgery and radiotherapy to adults with high grade glioma, and spanned 30 years, did not include enough patients to give clear results. So leading researchers from around the world formed the Glioma Meta-analysis Trialists' Group and provided their original research from 12 trials to the CTU for re-analysis.
	The MRC Clinical Trials Unit is currently conducting a Randomised trial of adjuvant PVC (procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine) chemotherapy for anaplastic oligodendroglioma, which is looking at whether adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery and radiotherapy can provide longer and better survival than surgery and radiotherapy alone.
	We made clear in the NHS Cancer Plan of September 2000 that by 2003 the Government would be investing an additional £20 million each year in the infrastructure for cancer research. Progress in establishing the National Translational Cancer Research Network (NTRAC) and the National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) has been rapid and substantial. NTRAC is focusing on speeding up the processes for getting scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory bench to the hospital bedside. NCRN is focusing on doubling the number of cancer patients in clinical trials, including trials of new chemotherapy drugs for brain cancer.

Brain Cancers

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of chemotherapy for patients suffering from brain tumours; and the impact of the treatment upon the life expectancy of brain tumour patients.

Yvette Cooper: First line treatment for brain tumours is usually surgery and/or radiotherapy. For a patient whose tumour recurs or progresses following surgery and radiotherapy, the chemotherapy treatment options are limited because the currently available agents have only a small chance of being effective.
	As indicated in the NHS Cancer Plan, the Department of Health and the National Assembly of Wales are currently considering a proposal for referral to National Institute for Clinical Excellence of service guidance for tumours of the brain and central nervous system.

GP Vacancies

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress made in GP recruitment in the last 12 months.

John Hutton: In the past year we have continued to work closely with the profession on measures to boost general practitioner (GP) numbers and make general practice a better place to work. Good progress has been made. During this period we have boosted recruitment by increasing training places; by recruiting from overseas; and by offering cash incentives, additional training and support to new GPs. We have similarly addressed retention through the revised retainer scheme; by developing flexible career options (especially through personal medical services); through further initiatives to reduce bureaucracy; and by improving GPs' working lives with the introduction of a range of family friendly initiatives. The additional resources which we have made available to the NHS are also enabling primary care trusts and others to give better support to GPs by providing better information technology, better buildings and promoting different ways of working,

Accident and Emergency Departments

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were admitted to wards from accident and emergency departments after arriving in accident and emergency eight or more hours prior to being moved to a ward in the last 12 months.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Health Care Regulations

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps have been taken by his Department to notify medical practitioners who operate exclusively outside the NHS of the requirements of Clause 4(1)(b) of the Private and Voluntary Health Care (England) Regulations 2001, prior to registration packs being sent out to them;
	(2)  what consultations his Department had, and with which professional bodies, concerning the requirements of Clause 4(1)(b) of the Private and Voluntary Health Care (England) Regulations 2001;
	(3)  what information his Department made available to those covered by Clause 4(1)(b) of the Private and Voluntary Health Care (England) Regulations 2001, (a) prior to the Regulations being debated by Parliament and (b) prior to their implementation.

Jacqui Smith: The following organisations were among those consulted by the Department prior to the public consultation on the regulations and national minimum standards for exclusively private medical practitioners:
	The Independent Healthcare Association
	The British Medical Association
	The Independent Doctors Forum 1
	The Network for Private General Practice 1
	Federation of Independent Practitioners 1
	The Royal Colleges
	The General Medical Council
	The Medicare Group, via the Medicare Centre at Waterloo.
	Trade associations for private medical practitioners
	The national minimum standards and regulations were developed with the help of an external consultation group comprising users, providers, inspectors, healthcare professionals and specialists. The standards for the different specialties were developed in consultation with appropriate stakeholder organisations, and throughout 2000 and 2001, Dr. Derek Machin, the chair of the BMA group on private practice, assisted in the development of the standards for private medical practitioners.
	In early 2001, before the formal consultation period, officials had two meetings with a representative of the Independent Doctors Forum. In July 2001, the regulations and standards were published for a three-month consultation period. The consultation document was also available on the Department's website.

National Care Standards Commission

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget for the National Care Standards Commission is for 2002–03; and what it is forecast to be over the next three financial years.

Jacqui Smith: The National Care Standards Commission provisional resource budget is £132.5 million for 2002–03, of which £1.5 million is a capital budget. This includes provision for capital charges and depreciation, and assumes that a proportion of the budget will be derived from fee income.
	Decisions on the level of funding for 2003–04 to 2005–06 will be made in the light of the work on the 2002 spending review.

Social Care Institute for Excellence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the number of people who work for the SCIE, (b) its budget allocation for 2001–02 and (c) the expected budget allocation for the next three years.

Jacqui Smith: The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) currently have 24 staff in post and the Department made a total resource of £2 million available for 2001–02, of which £1.1 million was a capital budget.
	The SCIE budget for 2002–03 is £3.2 million. Decisions on the level of funding for 2003–04 to 2005–06 will be made in the light of the work on the 2002 spending review.

Emergency Ambulance Calls

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of the response to 999 ambulance calls received between 10pm and 7am in Barnet was in each of the last three years; how many such calls there were; what estimate he has made of the number of such calls for 2002–03; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Information about the cost of a response for ambulance services is not required to be collected centrally.
	In 1999 a total of 6,699 calls were received in Barnet between 10pm and 7am; in 2000 there were 6,663 calls and in 2001, 6,854 calls were received.
	The London Ambulance Service would expect to receive approximately 7,000 calls in Barnet between 10pm and 7am in 2002–03.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the link between mental health problems in children and adolescents and suicide/self-harm when they are adults.

Jacqui Smith: Mental disorder in childhood is a risk factor for mental disorder in adulthood, which itself is a risk factor for suicide and self-harm. The continuities between childhood and adulthood vary according to the nature and severity of the disorder.
	Under the leadership of Professor Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental Health, we are developing a coherent national suicide prevention strategy. The strategy will strike a balance between a population approach and a focus on specific high risk/high benefit populations. We recognise that young people are a key "at risk" group and one of the key strategy objectives will be to promote the mental health of children and young people. We plan to publish a draft strategy for wide public consultation later this spring.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when (a) he and (b) his Ministers last met Ministers in DfES to discuss co-ordination of children's mental health services with education services.

Jacqui Smith: Ministers in the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills have many regular meetings and, although Ministers have not met specifically to discuss this topic, child mental health services are raised at many of these meetings. In addition, officials at both Departments' meet frequently to discuss multi-agency mental health services for children.
	The Department for Education and Skills will be an important contributor to the development of the mental health module of the Children's National Service Framework. This is a major development and will ensure that co-ordination of child and adolescent mental health services is safeguarded when considering the quality of services.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mental health promotion work is taking place with children and adolescents.

Jacqui Smith: The promotion of children's mental health and the prevention of mental health problems in childhood are central to many Government programmes.
	The Mental Health National Service Framework has set mental health promotion as its first standard. The project group taking this work forward has recently published a "Mental Health Promotion Update" focusing on mental health promotion in schools and for children and young people. Programmes such as sure start are designed to ensure that children get the best possible start in life so that they can thrive and make effective use of opportunities when they start school.
	The Department for Education and Skills issued guidance last year specifically addressing mental health promotion in schools, to which this Department contributed. This guidance is designed to increase awareness about children's mental health among teachers and to provide examples of good practice.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the cost of delivering a world class mental health service for children and adolescents.

Jacqui Smith: The National Service Framework for Children, which will include child and adolescent mental health services and the psychological wellbeing of children and young people, will set out service standards to improve the quality of care provided. The framework will take account of studies on the cost of delivering effective services.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the link between mental health problems in children and adolescents and crime.

Jacqui Smith: The results of a major literature review on antisocial behaviour by young people, commissioned by the Department, was published in 1998 (Rutter, Giller, Hagel—"Antisocial Behaviour by Young People", Cambridge University Press). This looked at international research evidence on antisocial behaviour and covered all the factors relevant to the development of such behaviour in young people, including mental health problems and serious mental disorder. The review clearly illustrated the complex nature of causal relationships in this field and the difficulty of establishing clear links between psychosocial (and other) risk factors and specific behaviours, including criminality.
	In addition a report "Psychiatric Morbidity among Young Offenders in England and Wales" was published by the Office for National Statistics in 2000, representing a further analysis of wider survey data on psychiatric morbidity among prisoners originally collected in 1997 on behalf of the Department. The report included a finding that more than nine in 10 of imprisoned young offenders in the survey showed evidence of mental disorder (assessed in the survey as: personality disorder; psychosis; neurotic disorder; drug dependence; and hazardous drinking).
	Copies of these documents are available in the Library.

Locum Doctors

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many locum doctors are available, broken down for primary and secondary care, in (a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each health authority;
	(2)  what arrangements have been made to ensure there are sufficient locum doctors available in each health authority area; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  if he has plans to increase the use of locum doctors from overseas; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  if his Department monitors the availability of sufficient locum doctors to cover each area in England.

John Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally. It is for NHS trusts locally to determine their need for locums and how they are used. However, the Department will be collecting data on medical and dental locums from September 2002 onwards.
	From 1 April 2002 all non-principal general practitioners working in the provision of NHS general medical services are required to be on a health authority/primary care trust supplementary list. From June 2002 we will be collecting information on the number of non-principal general practitioners on health authority/ primary care trust supplementary lists as part of the GMS census data.
	The NHS Plan set out the Government's intention to increase consultant numbers by 7,500 and GPs by 2,000. We expect increases in the number of permanent staff to help reduce demand for locums.
	The Department has advertised in Europe, North America, Australia and the Middle East for consultants and GPs. In general, international recruitment for doctors is generating a good level of interest from good quality overseas candidates. The majority of positions will be for full-time consultants. However, some trusts may wish to employ the consultants in locum positions with a view to employing them in permanent positions. This would provide the consultants with an opportunity to experience working in the UK before settling into a permanent post and also enable trusts to assess the induction processes required for the doctor.

Locum Doctors

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many locum doctors there were (a) at the latest available date, (b) in 1999, (c) in 1997 and (d) in 1994.

John Hutton: The Department stopped collecting data for medical and dental locum numbers in 1996. Data for locum general practitioners are not collected.
	Available information is shown in the table.
	
		Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): medical and dental locum staff
		
			 England at 30 September  Numbers 
		
		
			 1994  3,040 
			 1996  2,760 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
	Notes:
	Figures rounded to the nearest ten.
	Locums are either persons working in the temporary absence of a doctor/dentist until their return or someone who fills a temporary post for a period of time or a vacant post until it is filled.

Voluntary Euthanasia

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his policy on voluntary euthanasia.

Hazel Blears: Voluntary euthanasia—the intentional taking of life at the patient's request—is unlawful in the United Kingdom. Anyone alleged to have undertaken it would be open to a charge of murder or manslaughter. Similarly, medical treatment that is either omitted or given to a patient with the specific intention by the health care professional of hastening or inducing death is an illegal act.
	The Government have no plans to change the law in this respect.

"Keep Warm, Keep Well"

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the Keep Warm, Keep Well leaflet issued by his Department in the winter of 2001–02.

Jacqui Smith: The cost of the Keep Warm, Keep Well leaflet issued by the Department in the winter of 2001–02 was £257,353.11.

Diabetes

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients are receiving treatment for diabetes in England and Wales;
	(2)  what his Department's projections are for the number of diabetes sufferers in England and Wales in each of the next 10 years;
	(3)  what his Department is doing to promote earlier detection of diabetes;
	(4)  what his Department's estimate is of the annual cost of care for a diabetic in financial year 2001–02;
	(5)  what his Department's budget committed to the treatment of diabetes is in 2001–02; and what it is projected to be for 2002–03.

Jacqui Smith: There are an estimated 1.3 million people with diagnosed diabetes in England. Incidence is difficult to predict in diabetes, but it has been estimated that this figure will increase by 3 per cent. each year.
	Information is not collected on the cost of treating individuals with diabetes. Around 5 per cent. of total NHS resources, and up to 10 per cent. of hospital in-patient resources are used for the care of people with diabetes.
	The Diabetes National Service Framework: "Standards", published in December 2001, sets 12 standards in nine areas, including the prevention and detection of diabetes. We have asked the National Screening Committee to assess the benefits and drawbacks of screening for Type 2 diabetes. The Committee has decided that further research, which may require some complex studies, is needed to inform its advice. It will report to the Department of Health in 2005.

Mobile Operating Theatres

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many MASH type mobile operating theatres are (a) in use and (b) on order;
	(2)  what the average cost is of the MASH-type mobile operating theatres being supplied to hospital trusts;
	(3)  what guidance has been issued to hospital trusts looking to acquire MASH type mobile operating theatres;
	(4)  which hospital trusts are negotiating to acquire MASH type mobile operating theatres.

John Hutton: The Department does not collect data on how many NHS Trusts are negotiating to acquire mobile operating theatres, or on how many trusts already have them in place. The purchase of mobile operating theatres is a matter for individual NHS trusts to make, in partnership with their commissioners.
	Costs for the provision of mobile operating theatres vary according to the type of facility, the costs of securing plumbing and power, and the length of time the facility is likely to be in operation, as well as a range of site-specific conditions. However, the approximate costs are £3,600 a day or £12,000 per week for a "low loader" facility (which can be moved around from day to day) and for Modular kits, which provide a fixed-temporary service, the cost is £1,200 a day or £750,000 as an outright purchase.
	Guidance on ventilation in health care premises and operating departments have been issued by NHS Estates. In 1991, NHS Estates issued "Health Building Note 26 on Operating Departments" which covers the planning and design, including space requirements, maintenance, cleaning, energy consumption, engineering and staffing requirements. While the guidance does not refer directly to mobile operating theatres, the standards set out in the guidance applies to all types of operating theatre. Health Technical Memorandum 2025 was issued in 1993 and sets out how the NHS can ensure facilities control and reduce hazards to patients and staff from airborne contaminants, dust and harmful micro-organisms.

Asthma

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to ensure appropriate medication is provided for children suffering from asthma.

Jacqui Smith: We commissioned the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to produce guidance on inhalers for children under five with chronic asthma. Guidance on that topic was issued in September 2000. Further guidance was commissioned from NICE on the clinical and cost effectiveness of inhalers in older children. This appraisal will be available on the NICE website (www.nice.nhs.uk) from 11 April.

Cancer Patients

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cancer patients have been waiting more than four weeks, broken down by cancer types.

Yvette Cooper: Standards of a maximum wait of one month from diagnosis to first treatment for breast cancer and one month from urgent GP referral to treatment for children's and testicular cancers and acute leukaemia came into effect at the end of December 2001. Central monitoring of these standards began on 1 January 2002 and data will be published on a quarterly basis. Data collection on waiting times to treatment for other tumour types will be introduced as we roll out the Cancer Plan waiting times targets.

Hospital Re-admission Rates

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the latest quarter figures for hospital re-admission rates for (a) all ages and (b) those aged over 75.

Jacqui Smith: Quarterly information on re-admissions is only collected for those aged 75 and over. We currently anticipate that the Quarter 4 (January-March) 2001–02 information will be available late in May.

NHS Leadership Centre

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to make an announcement of a permanent appointment to the position of Head of the NHS Leadership Centre.

John Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 850W.

Health Trusts (Security Staff)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if health trusts are given an allocation of their budgets to fund security staff for hospital accident and emergency departments.

Hazel Blears: Security and safety of staff, patients and property in the national health service is of great importance to the Government. It is for health authorities in partnership with primary care trusts and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services.
	Security is provided in trusts by 'in-house' staff or by private security organisations. The method of provision and level of staffing is a matter for individual trusts dependent on the size of the hospital, the locality, staffing levels and the general configuration of the building.
	Guidance on effective management of security in accident and emergency departments was issued by the NHS Executive in 1997 and was an important aspect of the Government strategy when funding the upgrading of A and E departments.

NHS Patients (Overseas Treatment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the policy of his Department is on sending national health service patients for treatment in South Africa; and which health authorities have approached his Department about sending NHS patients for treatment in South Africa.

John Hutton: Our policy on commissioning health care outside the European Economic Area remains that such commissioning should only take place where exceptional circumstances apply. No health authorities have approached the Department about sending NHS patients for treatment in South Africa.

NHS Beds

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds are available in the NHS.

Hazel Blears: The latest information on the average daily number of available beds for England is on the Department of Health website www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity

Anti-impotence Drugs

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria were used to decide which medical conditions qualify for anti-impotence prescribing; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: In 1999 we decided to constrain the spend on drug treatments for impotence broadly within the range £12-£14 million a year, the approximate amount that was being spent on these treatments before the first oral treatment became available. The medical conditions conferring eligibility for NHS prescriptions from GPs were those believed to be commonly associated with impotence that we estimated could be met within the spending range (although, in fact, latest figures indicate that annual expenditure on drug treatments for impotence is £25 million). This does not mean that patients suffering from impotence arising from other causes have no access to drug treatment on the NHS. NHS treatment for such patients is available from specialist services where impotence is causing severe distress.
	Following a review in 2001, we decided to continue the existing scheme.

Clive Mason

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met Clive Mason of his advisory task force.

John Hutton: Clive Mason was a member of the NHS task force on Staff Involvement that was announced in January 1998 by the then Secretary of State my right hon. Friend, the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson). The task force was set up to report on how front-line health service staff worked with local managers to improve services. Following the production of their report in July 1999 the task force was disbanded. According to records Clive Mason has not met with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

Boarding Schools

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he proposes to respond to the representations made in October 2001 by the Independent Schools Council about the charges proposed for the welfare inspections of boarding schools.

Jacqui Smith: I replied to the Independent Schools Council on 1 March 2002. Department of Health officials have also had discussions with the Independent Schools Council on issues relating to regulation by the National Care Standards Commission.

Age Discrimination

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is towards age discrimination.

Jacqui Smith: The aim of standard 1 of the National Services Framework for Older People is rooting out age discrimination.
	The Department is committed to ensure that older people are never unfairly discriminated and has an equal opportunities policy that encompasses this. The Department's valuing diversity policy states that:
	"Everyone who works for the Department of Health or with it should be treated fairly and with respect. This is regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, personal beliefs, colour, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, responsibility for dependants, working pattern or position in the organisation"
	All staff are provided access to training and promotion without regard to their age—the criteria that apply relate to the individual's capability and business need.

Respiratory Specialists

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the British Thoracic Society concerning the number of respiratory specialists in the NHS.

John Hutton: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met representatives from the British Thoracic Society and the British Lung Foundation on 5 March and discussed a number of issues at the meeting including the number of respiratory specialists in the NHS.
	We recognise that treatment of respiratory disease is a high priority specialised area. In 1997 there were 109 Specialist Registrars in Respiratory Medicine. This figure has increased year-on- year and by 2001 had reached 257. This represents a significant increase. As of 30 September 2001 there were 1,020 hospital medical staff within the Respiratory Medicine speciality. This number included 470 consultants.

Timber and Wood Products

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the companies from which his Department have obtained timber and wood products and the total spent with each firm over the last five years.

Hazel Blears: There is no central record of companies from which the Department obtains timber and wood products.
	The Department has a contract for furniture in its offices with Kinnarps (UK) Ltd. for the supply, replacement and renewal of wooden office furniture and the amount spent with that firm over the last five years is:
	
		
			   £000s (excluding VAT) 
		
		
			 1996–97 211 
			 1997–98 337 
			 1998–99 401 
			 1999–2000 637 
			 2000–01 364

Building Land

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors inform the decision to sell his Department's real estate as building land; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Once a property has been identified as surplus to national health service (NHS) requirements it will be disposed of. In accordance with Treasury guidance a planning application is likely to be made that will maximise the receipt that will then be re-invested in new NHS capital developments. The local planning authority is responsible for determining the alternative use of the land. Most surplus land disposals over the past few years have been for residential development.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is his policy that Persons Responsible should be indemnified by their (a) employer and (b) defence body under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

Yvette Cooper: Within the national health service, employing authorities should make appropriate indemnity arrangements in discussion with the Person Responsible. Outside the NHS, the Person Responsible should make their own arrangements for liability cover in discussion with their employer where appropriate.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial contribution HMG has agreed to make toward the World Health Organisation research into air travel and deep vein thrombosis.

Yvette Cooper: Representatives from the Department and the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions will be visiting the World Health Organisation before the end of March 2002 specifically to discuss funding for research into air travel and deep vein thrombosis.

North and East Devon Health Authority

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the change in the number of care home beds in the North and East Devon health authority since 1997.

Hazel Blears: Information on the number of nursing care beds in the North and East Devon health authority since 1997 at 31 March each year is shown in the table.
	Nursing care beds in North and East Devon Health Authority.
	
		
			 Year (as at 31 March) Nursing care beds(126) 
		
		
			 1997(127) 2,620 
			 1998 2,410 
			 1999 2,280 
			 2000 2,080 
			 2001 2,020 
		
	
	(126) Includes beds in private hospitals and clinics.
	(127) Relates to the period 1 October 1996 to 31 March 1997.
	Note:
	Numbers are rounded
	Source:
	Department of Health's annual returns.
	The Department has allocated an additional £1,082,000 in 2001–02 and £2,270,000 in 2002–03 to Devon county council to assist in stabilising and maintaining capacity in the care home sector.
	Further information on the number of residential and nursing care home beds in residential and nursing care homes is available in the statistical bulletin "Community Care Statistics 2001: Residential Personal Social Services for Adults, England" available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/ public/sb0129.htm.

Sellafield

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates, and where, (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have met the Irish Government to discuss the British Nuclear Fuels plant at Sellafield since 5 October 2001; and which Ministers and which Irish Government Departments were involved in each meeting.

Yvette Cooper: Officials from the Department have been involved in two meetings since 5 October 2001 with the Irish Government to discuss the British Nuclear Fuels plant at Sellafield. These meetings were on:
	11 December 2001—Compliance with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Provisional Measures Order (Dublin, Ireland) involving officials from the Department, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and other Government Departments, the Department of Public Enterprise (Ireland) and the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.
	15 February 2002—UK Ireland Contact Group on Radioactivity (London) involving officials from the Department, DEFRA, other Government Departments, devolved Administrations, Department of Public Enterprise (Ireland), Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and the Isle of Man Government.

Heart Disease

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the United Kingdom have been prescribed statins for heart disease in each of the last five years.

Yvette Cooper: The number of prescription items dispensed in the community for statins in England for the period 1996 to 2000, and the first three quarters of 2001 is listed in the table. The actual number of people being prescribed drugs is not collected. The data include statins prescriptions written in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but dispensed in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospital or private prescriptions. Information about prescriptions written and dispensed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are matters for the devolved Administrations.
	
		Thousand 
		
			 Year Prescription items 
		
		
			 1996 2,053.1 
			 1997 3,316.1 
			 1998 4,988.5 
			 1999 6,989.6 
			 2000 9,423.0 
			 January to September 2001 9,070.0

Parkinson's Disease

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what actions he is taking to raise awareness of Parkinson's Disease.

Jacqui Smith: The National Service Framework (NSF) for long-term conditions (NSF) will have a particular focus on the needs of people with neurological disease, brain and spinal injury, as well as some of the common issues faced by people with a long-term condition. It will include services for people with epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease and other similar conditions.

Lung Cancer

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to improve the early detection of lung cancer.

Yvette Cooper: Trials for lung cancer screening conducted in the United States and Czechoslovakia in the 1970s using chest x-rays and/or sputum cytology showed no reduction in cancer mortality. Recent research has shown that low dose spiral computer tomography (CT) scanning can identify lung cancer in asymptomatic individuals at high risk. While this research suggests that CT scanning may be a useful screening test for lung cancer, more research is needed. A proposal for a trial in the United Kingdom is being considered by Medical Research Council.

Domiciliary Oxygen Therapy

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how must has been spent by (a) his Department and (b) each trust or health authority, in each of the last five years on each type of prescribed domiciliary oxygen therapy.

Hazel Blears: The tables set out payments made for domiciliary oxygen therapy. The payments are made by the Prescription Pricing Authority, on behalf of HAs who are responsible for the provision of these services. The tables cover payments for services, hardware and concentrators between 1997–98 and 2001–02. Also included is the net ingredient cost of oxygen gas and masks in 1999–2000 and 2000–01; the only financial years for which data by health authority are available.
	
		Table 1: Payments made to suppliers in England for oxygen concentrators -- £000
		
			 Health authority 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02(128) 
		
		
			 Avon 269.3 312.3 286.3 299.4 325.8 
			 Barking and Havering 92.3 106.5 128.5 139.4 148.3 
			 Barnet(129) 102.9 102.2 103.5 106.0 — 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey(129) — — — — 235.2 
			 Barnsley 24.8 41.0 57.8 72.7 89.0 
			 Bedfordshire 84.2 98.2 118.0 129.8 143.9 
			 Berkshire 118.7 122.9 115.0 116.7 134.5 
			 Bexley and Greenwich(130) 87.0 110.5 88.6 91.1 — 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich(130) — — — — 157.0 
			 Birmingham 258.9 268.5 295.9 323.2 331.5 
			 Bradford 123.9 158.8 187.6 197.2 221.8 
			 Brent and Harrow 75.2 70.4 79.0 99.3 113.2 
			 Bromley(130) 38.9 50.7 40.0 55.3 — 
			 Buckinghamshire 125.8 122.3 119.3 114.9 127.4 
			 Bury and Rochdale 116.8 127.2 142.3 147.5 150.6 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 134.7 155.4 174.6 194.1 229.3 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon(131) 61.5 62.5 — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire(131) — — 113.7 134.5 158.1 
			 Camden and Islington 155.0 156.7 161.2 175.2 182.3 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 264.9 301.2 279.8 296.8 303.9 
			 County Durham 220.4 237.1 261.5 283.1 321.7 
			 Coventry 58.8 68.0 82.2 97.8 116.0 
			 Croydon 46.7 52.5 40.0 43.4 56.9 
			 Doncaster 95.6 103.9 122.0 140.5 165.0 
			 Dorset 164.1 179.3 142.0 177.7 209.9 
			 Dudley 119.4 117.4 110.3 116.7 134.6 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 168.5 155.7 145.4 144.4 178.3 
			 East and North Hertfordshire(132) 93.6 100.1 100.5 117.9 — 
			 East Kent 134.7 124.3 114.4 128.9 154.3 
			 East Lancashire 137.3 156.5 169.6 174.3 196.9 
			 East London and City 221.1 239.8 259.4 283.0 295.7 
			 East Norfolk(131) 130.9 124.4 — — — 
			 East Riding and Hull 139.6 159.3 192.1 199.0 227.4 
			 East Surrey 23.8 27.6 29.2 36.6 59.7 
			 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 133.7 160.4 143.2 157.7 170.5 
			 Enfield and Haringey(129) 67.8 87.9 96.5 103.1 — 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 79.4 81.9 109.1 141.6 179.2 
			 Gloucestershire 142.4 151.7 109.5 123.7 137.7 
			 Herefordshire 23.0 27.9 32.6 38.9 46.4 
			 Hertfordshire(132) — — — — 328.0 
			 Hillingdon 51.9 52.7 51.8 54.4 65.8 
			 Isle of Wight(133) 11.7 13.0 10.7 13.7 — 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(133) — — — — 157.5 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 77.7 82.5 82.3 86.3 85.0 
			 Kingston and Richmond 35.5 40.1 32.7 45.0 58.2 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 215.8 233.3 215.0 219.1 230.8 
			 Leeds 176.5 216.5 254.5 261.6 304.1 
			 Leicestershire 222.4 234.3 255.6 283.0 298.5 
			 Lincolnshire 122.7 146.6 157.7 167.8 183.0 
			 Liverpool 143.9 164.6 183.3 213.6 230.5 
			 Manchester 114.5 122.4 133.4 156.1 163.1 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 101.4 121.0 121.7 126.8 137.9 
			 Morecambe Bay 27.7 30.6 30.9 36.7 50.6 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 188.6 223.7 264.2 296.6 335.7 
			 Norfolk(131) — — 156.4 183.0 212.8 
			 North and East Devon 154.9 153.4 122.2 128.0 143.8 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 104.1 110.7 92.0 96.0 113.6 
			 North Cheshire 56.0 64.1 79.4 101.3 112.9 
			 North Cumbria 41.6 45.1 48.3 56.3 72.1 
			 North Derbyshire 74.1 77.7 82.2 99.4 112.5 
			 North Essex 183.3 193.7 207.5 226.3 243.9 
			 North Nottingham 109.9 123.5 125.7 132.1 140.1 
			 North Staffordshire 176.5 184.8 205.3 213.3 227.0 
			 North West Anglia(131) 63.7 72.1 — — — 
			 North West Lancashire 137.5 140.1 150.2 162.8 188.9 
			 North Yorkshire 141.9 167.7 185.6 200.8 225.0 
			 Northamptonshire 118.1 131.1 141.8 139.0 169.1 
			 Northumberland 66.6 73.9 79.8 92.9 123.5 
			 Nottingham 151.2 165.7 172.7 209.1 234.5 
			 Oxfordshire 107.8 120.9 99.6 101.0 111.4 
			 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(133) 97.2 118.1 109.5 118.1 — 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 82.0 91.8 98.2 114.4 121.8 
			 Rotherham 61.3 63.8 65.7 75.3 97.4 
			 Salford and Trafford 151.0 147.8 155.3 157.7 166.0 
			 Sandwell 102.6 107.7 115.7 111.7 119.2 
			 Sefton 93.6 92.7 84.2 86.1 98.1 
			 Sheffield 158.3 181.7 210.9 235.4 279.4 
			 Shropshire 111.2 123.6 130.9 127.3 137.0 
			 Solihull 68.3 69.3 73.8 72.2 78.2 
			 Somerset 122.1 133.5 126.3 122.2 161.6 
			 South and West Devon 165.7 180.5 156.3 181.6 201.1 
			 South Cheshire 153.5 163.1 180.2 190.6 210.3 
			 South Essex 118.9 132.7 162.6 185.3 217.6 
			 South Humber 68.1 92.1 110.3 108.4 103.8 
			 South Lancashire 72.5 78.7 88.1 94.9 97.7 
			 South Staffordshire 184.2 211.9 222.7 236.1 269.5 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 173.4 190.3 135.3 150.6 171.0 
			 Southern Derbyshire 73.7 86.4 96.9 108.3 117.1 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 113.4 117.1 134.7 146.0 163.9 
			 Stockport 100.6 115.1 106.8 99.6 103.7 
			 Suffolk 113.1 114.9 125.8 138.5 157.5 
			 Sunderland 138.9 153.5 166.5 182.3 230.9 
			 Tees 109.9 124.3 148.8 180.0 250.2 
			 Wakefield 89.1 102.7 107.6 107.1 122.3 
			 Walsall 59.5 76.4 98.9 116.9 140.2 
			 Warwickshire 87.7 100.0 117.7 131.4 148.1 
			 West Hertfordshire(132) 139.9 159.8 175.7 184.3 — 
			 West Kent 139.3 167.7 148.1 163.1 192.0 
			 West Pennine 140.1 150.9 182.7 191.3 187.3 
			 West Surrey 102.9 119.6 98.8 105.2 117.5 
			 West Sussex 111.4 129.9 106.9 126.1 147.8 
			 Wigan and Bolton 138.6 134.1 137.2 162.7 175.8 
			 Wiltshire 159.3 169.4 117.8 126.3 138.9 
			 Wirral 127.3 146.7 169.6 190.5 205.1 
			 Wolverhampton 67.8 80.5 92.7 102.8 101.8 
			 Worcestershire 69.4 81.8 95.6 106.3 127.6 
			 England 11,578.7 12,738.4 13,148.0 14,339.9 16,118.8 
		
	
	(128) Provisional
	(129) On 1 April 2001 Barnet health authority merged with Enfield and Haringey health authority to create the new Barnet, Enfield and Haringey health authority
	(130) On 1 April 2001 Bexley and Greenwich health authority merged with Bromley health authority to create the new Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich health authority
	(131) On 1 April 1999 North West Anglia health authority, Cambridge and Huntingdon health authority and East Norfolk health authority were replaced by Cambridgeshire health authority and Norfolk health authority
	(132) On 1 April 2001 East and North Hertfordshire merged with West Hertfordshire to create the new Hertfordshire health authority
	(133) On 1 April 2001 Isle of Wight health authority merged with Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority to create the new Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority.
	
		Table 2: The net ingredient cost of oxygen gas (cylinders), masks and tubing dispensed in the community in England -- £000
		
			 Health authority 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Avon 194.5 249.7 
			 Barking and Havering 89.9 106.8 
			 Barnet(134) 26.6 30.2 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey(134) — — 
			 Barnsley 66.1 89.1 
			 Bedfordshire 70.8 74.0 
			 Berkshire 63.2 73.1 
			 Bexley and Greenwich(135) 82.4 90.0 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich(135) — — 
			 Birmingham 149.1 136.1 
			 Bradford 133.6 140.3 
			 Brent and Harrow 36.4 42.0 
			 Bromley(135) 36.3 42.0 
			 Buckinghamshire 100.5 96.3 
			 Bury and Rochdale 62.9 62.5 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 120.9 112.7 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon(136) — — 
			 Cambridgeshire(136) 56.4 56.8 
			 Camden and Islington 44.6 49.9 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 175.9 204.2 
			 County Durham 141.1 180.4 
			 Coventry 54.4 70.2 
			 Croydon 27.8 31.5 
			 Doncaster 69.1 77.1 
			 Dorset 83.9 99.9 
			 Dudley 42.4 47.8 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 73.8 72.4 
			 East and North Hertfordshire(137) 64.1 74.8 
			 East Kent 108.1 119.3 
			 East Lancashire 64.8 68.9 
			 East London and City 90.2 87.0 
			 East Norfolk(136) — — 
			 East Riding and Hull 116.2 143.7 
			 East Surrey 63.1 59.2 
			 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 160.5 155.4 
			 Enfield and Haringey(134) 78.3 76.1 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 214.5 203.3 
			 Gloucestershire 57.9 70.6 
			 Herefordshire 25.6 27.9 
			 Hertfordshire(137) — — 
			 Hillingdon 36.7 40.2 
			 Isle of Wight(138) 11.3 10.5 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(138) — — 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 30.5 33.8 
			 Kingston and Richmond 27.4 28.1 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 157.1 138.7 
			 Leeds 157.1 159.6 
			 Leicestershire 132.8 146.1 
			 Lincolnshire 129.6 123.9 
			 Liverpool 166.4 180.3 
			 Manchester 119.4 124.7 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 75.3 77.9 
			 Morecambe Bay 29.1 45.5 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 163.3 168.6 
			 Norfolk(136) 61.1 72.9 
			 North and East Devon 68.8 93.8 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 47.1 50.2 
			 North Cheshire 53.5 62.4 
			 North Cumbria 38.6 51.8 
			 North Derbyshire 44.5 50.8 
			 North Essex 155.4 155.5 
			 North Nottingham 79.8 100.9 
			 North Staffordshire 89.1 88.5 
			 North West Anglia(136) — — 
			 North West Lancashire 169.0 196.4 
			 North Yorkshire 117.2 125.0 
			 Northamptonshire 115.8 115.0 
			 Northumberland 124.4 163.3 
			 Nottingham 75.4 87.7 
			 Oxfordshire 100.2 98.5 
			 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(138) 45.5 48.1 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 69.1 68.1 
			 Rotherham 67.1 69.7 
			 Salford and Trafford 128.1 138.9 
			 Sandwell 42.7 46.0 
			 Sefton 74.8 96.0 
			 Sheffield 94.7 102.7 
			 Shropshire 91.0 95.7 
			 Solihull 27.4 30.1 
			 Somerset 89.7 79.1 
			 South and West Devon 109.9 111.2 
			 South Cheshire 114.8 122.8 
			 South Essex 123.0 135.4 
			 South Humber 87.0 93.7 
			 South Lancashire 96.6 98.9 
			 South Staffordshire 136.9 146.9 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 62.2 77.2 
			 Southern Derbyshire 54.7 59.0 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 121.3 114.6 
			 Stockport 44.1 46.2 
			 Suffolk 68.5 86.3 
			 Sunderland 86.2 86.7 
			 Tees 271.4 312.4 
			 Wakefield 57.4 56.3 
			 Walsall 58.1 54.6 
			 Warwickshire 64.0 79.7 
			 West Hertfordshire(137) 84.6 88.1 
			 West Kent 157.6 175.0 
			 West Pennine 66.0 76.8 
			 West Surrey 88.1 85.3 
			 West Sussex 129.2 139.6 
			 Wigan and Bolton 80.5 82.6 
			 Wiltshire 117.6 124.5 
			 Wirral 67.1 87.2 
			 Wolverhampton 84.1 95.9 
			 Worcestershire 54.7 60.7 
			 England 8,837.7 9,583.5 
		
	
	(134) On 1 April 2001 Barnet health authority merged with Enfield and Haringey health authority to create the new Barnet, Enfield and Haringey health authority
	(135) On 1 April 2001 Bexley and Greenwich health authority merged with Bromley health authority to create the new Bexley. Bromley and Greenwich health authority
	(136) On 1 April 1999 North West Anglia health authority, Cambridge and Huntingdon health authority and East Norfolk health authority were replaced by Cambridgeshire health authority and Norfolk health authority
	(137) On 1 April 2001 East and North Hertfordshire merged with West Hertfordshire to create the new Hertfordshire health authority
	(138) On 1 April 2001 Isle of Wight health authority merged with Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority to create the new Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority.
	Notes:
	1. The data from the Prescribing Analyses and Cost (PACT) system. The information is for the HA in which the prescription was written
	2. Oxygen is described in the British National Formulary (BNF) section 3b. Oxygen masks are defined in the Prescription Pricing Authority pseudo BNF sect.
	3. The net ingredient cost is the cost of oxygen before discounts and does not include any dispensing costs or fees.
	
		Table 3: Payments made to pharmacies in England for oxygen services and hardware -- £000
		
			 Health authority 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02(139) 
		
		
			 Avon 255.6 265.2 271.0 281.6 306.4 
			 Barking and Havering 139.4 182.4 188.8 195.6 204.1 
			 Barnet(140) 66.4 52.1 46.7 45.3 — 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey(140) — — — — 183.5 
			 Barnsley 108.8 114.1 119.1 113.0 137.2 
			 Bedfordshire 107.2 119.6 121.4 121.5 128.9 
			 Berkshire 152.4 142.4 133.2 143.4 150.4 
			 Bexley and Greenwich(141) 150.6 154.7 153.9 163.5 — 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich(141) — — — — 197.5 
			 Birmingham 193.1 190.5 196.8 195.9 197.8 
			 Bradford 146.2 143.4 155.7 137.0 175.4 
			 Brent and Harrow 128.6 105.8 88.7 78.8 94.4 
			 Bromley(141) 46.6 48.1 44.0 53.7 — 
			 Buckinghamshire 123.1 147.6 137.2 156.7 168.9 
			 Bury and Rochdale 91.7 76.0 89.5 92.0 82.2 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 205.7 173.8 186.5 158.1 175.0 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon(142) 40.4 41.9 — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire(142) — — 90.0 98.7 109.0 
			 Camden and Islington 71.6 71.7 83.2 70.5 72.1 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 209.8 277.3 286.9 319.7 327.1 
			 County Durham 174.4 179.1 181.9 192.3 198.7 
			 Coventry 62.2 82.3 95.9 90.4 95.8 
			 Croydon 40.5 58.5 57.5 61.8 65.1 
			 Doncaster 113.4 102.6 105.6 102.2 112.9 
			 Dorset 136.3 144.4 153.5 149.9 165.4 
			 Dudley 103.2 104.3 93.6 98.6 93.6 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 163.8 126.4 131.8 124.7 127.1 
			 East and North Hertfordshire(143) 114.7 111.5 112.8 113.2 — 
			 East Kent 164.7 165.6 186.4 203.2 207.7 
			 East Lancashire 120.7 121.3 126.9 130.6 123.8 
			 East London and City 200.6 150.9 106.6 117.8 124.4 
			 East Norfolk(142) 86.6 109.8 — — — 
			 East Riding and Hull 131.5 174.2 181.2 208.0 216.9 
			 East Surrey 73.7 98.4 97.1 94.9 112.1 
			 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 201.8 249.8 233.0 230.9 233.2 
			 Enfield and Haringey(140) 117.4 131.8 145.5 139.8 — 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 136.6 211.9 201.8 215.8 212.8 
			 Gloucestershire 83.8 131.4 122.1 120.3 118.7 
			 Herefordshire 40.6 52.0 46.4 49.1 56.6 
			 Hertfordshire(143) — — — — 271.2 
			 Hillingdon 70.5 72.8 61.3 55.1 59.3 
			 Isle of Wight(144) 23.0 22.1 21.1 17.1 — 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(144) — — — — 117.8 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 59.5 43.2 48.2 54.9 50.3 
			 Kingston and Richmond 62.0 62.8 69.4 63.5 67.4 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 253.0 357.5 321.4 210.3 224.9 
			 Leeds 146.2 174.5 176.7 156.8 173.0 
			 Leicestershire 169.5 199.3 205.3 213.0 212.5 
			 Lincolnshire 139.2 138.0 167.3 156.1 169.6 
			 Liverpool 295.7 314.2 326.8 339.3 315.6 
			 Manchester 162.9 172.5 194.3 185.2 192.8 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 131.3 141.0 169.7 154.0 148.5 
			 Morecambe Bay 52.8 57.3 49.5 58.6 64.8 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 168.1 194.1 233.0 201.2 204.8 
			 Norfolk(142) — — 109.7 117.3 123.1 
			 North and East Devon 118.5 126.3 137.3 143.4 158.0 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 74.7 84.2 75.3 72.1 59.8 
			 North Cheshire 93.5 104.8 111.3 116.4 128.2 
			 North Cumbria 47.0 48.9 47.2 58.7 68.4 
			 North Derbyshire 65.9 75.8 75.5 87.4 96.4 
			 North Essex 264.0 275.9 284.4 258.5 279.2 
			 North Nottingham 133.5 141.2 162.2 231.5 237.7 
			 North Staffordshire 124.1 132.6 142.6 145.7 161.4 
			 North West Anglia(142) 72.7 78.0 — — — 
			 North West Lancashire 303.1 275.1 280.0 279.1 280.8 
			 North Yorkshire 191.7 220.0 179.9 188.7 200.5 
			 Northamptonshire 161.0 172.8 161.2 156.0 188.9 
			 Northumberland 113.2 126.9 129.4 170.9 183.3 
			 Nottingham 78.4 94.4 114.2 128.1 161.2 
			 Oxfordshire 111.9 114.7 120.1 124.3 130.8 
			 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire(144) 113.3 108.5 104.0 97.2 — 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 119.9 120.8 131.0 137.4 144.3 
			 Rotherham 97.3 91.5 102.5 113.5 107.5 
			 Salford and Trafford 224.5 224.8 222.7 251.4 247.5 
			 Sandwell 80.9 77.4 82.1 84.7 83.3 
			 Sefton 149.1 144.7 161.6 153.7 159.8 
			 Sheffield 128.0 138.3 144.7 142.8 120.8 
			 Shropshire 97.6 119.6 120.7 125.3 158.7 
			 Solihull 39.7 38.0 41.4 39.4 52.7 
			 Somerset 104.7 120.3 130.6 129.2 135.7 
			 South and West Devon 170.1 225.9 233.4 228.6 242.3 
			 South Cheshire 192.8 211.2 209.1 222.3 222.3 
			 South Essex 226.4 251.6 306.2 284.8 376.7 
			 South Humber 98.9 120.8 130.3 142.7 156.2 
			 South Lancashire 175.7 162.3 173.8 166.8 173.7 
			 South Staffordshire 181.9 184.8 200.9 202.4 207.1 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 102.5 107.9 114.7 113.9 129.1 
			 Southern Derbyshire 74.1 72.7 74.8 74.9 82.6 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 140.9 169.9 189.1 169.7 168.9 
			 Stockport 72.3 70.4 77.0 77.2 84.8 
			 Suffolk 116.8 99.4 109.4 109.9 141.6 
			 Sunderland 117.4 113.8 137.6 116.4 129.8 
			 Tees 302.1 311.8 354.7 353.3 393.0 
			 Wakefield 85.1 96.1 76.9 69.0 71.8 
			 Walsall 82.6 90.5 83.8 92.0 103.5 
			 Warwickshire 102.6 80.7 109.4 130.2 117.7 
			 West Hertfordshire(143) 140.3 137.0 134.8 111.8 — 
			 West Kent 276.8 282.5 315.6 294.3 290.4 
			 West Pennine 94.6 93.5 100.2 115.0 119.0 
			 West Surrey 118.0 152.3 124.6 160.5 154.8 
			 West Sussex 156.9 147.3 151.5 153.6 169.2 
			 Wigan and Bolton 163.4 174.9 175.5 175.0 177.2 
			 Wiltshire 146.9 163.3 172.0 174.1 201.2 
			 Wirral 114.4 136.7 132.0 136.8 154.2 
			 Wolverhampton 131.9 122.5 118.7 120.2 121.2 
			 Worcestershire 83.1 78.4 89.2 82.6 87.3 
			 England 13,014.5 13,875.4 14,282.9 14,364.6 15,191.1 
		
	
	(139) Provisional
	(140) On 1 April 2001 Barnet health authority merged with Enfield and Haringey health authority to create the new Barnet, Enfield and Haringey health authority
	(141) On 1 April 2001 Bexley and Greenwich health authority merged with Bromley health authority to create the new Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich health authority
	(142) On 1 April 1999 North West Anglia health authority, Cambridge and Huntingdon health authority and East Norfolk health authority were replaced by Cambridgeshire health authority and Norfolk health authority
	(143) On 1 April 2001 East and North Hertfordshire merged with West Hertfordshire to create the new Hertfordshire health authority
	(144) On 1 April 2001 Isle of Wight health authority merged with Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority to create the new Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority

Breast Cancer

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of women aged 50 to 64 years were screened for breast cancer in (a) England and (b) each health authority in 2000–01.

Yvette Cooper: In 2000–01 70 per cent. of women aged 50–64 were screened for breast cancer. Information about the percentage of women screened in each health authority is provided in the statistical bulletin "Breast Screening Programme, England: 2000–01". Copies are available in the Library.

Premature Babies

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the clinical needs of premature babies will be addressed within the maternity services section of the planned National Service Framework on Children.

Yvette Cooper: We have established a number of External Working Groups to provide advice on standards for the Children's National Service Framework. The needs of premature babies will be considered as part of the work of any relevant External Working Groups including maternity services.

Western Sussex Primary Care Trust

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what capital allocations have been and will be made in respect of GP premises in the Western Sussex Primary Care Trust for 2001–02.

Hazel Blears: The Western Sussex Primary Care Trust is an amalgamation of Regis and Chichester and Rural Primary Care Groups (PCGs). These PCGs received a share of the additional moneys for investment in primary care premises that were allocated towards the end of 2001. These were £25,000 for 2001–02 and £50,000 for 2002–03.
	In addition, the PCGs have accessed the West Sussex General Medical Services discretionary fund, which included over £500,000 for cost rent and improvement grant projects. The Western Sussex share of that was £140,000 or 28 per cent. of the funding. With the agreement of all PCGs and Primary Care Trusts in West Sussex, this money has been held and managed as a shared resource for 2001–02.

Fibromyalgia

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear, (d) the north east and (e) the UK; what information and support is available to people diagnosed with fibromyalgia; how many multidisciplinary clinics for fibromyalgia there are in the UK; and if he plans to fund a multidisciplinary clinic for fibromyalgia in the north east.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested on the incidence of fibromyalgia is not available in the form requested, as we do not collect data on the incidence of individual conditions. We do, however, have some information on finished consultant episodes as shown in the table.
	
		Finished consultant episodes (FCES) for fibromyalgia(145) by area of residence NHS hospitals, England 2000–01
		
			 Area of residence Number 
		
		
			 QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA 33 
			 Northern and Yorkshire RO 227 
			 England 1,360 
		
	
	The diagnosis (ICD-10) code used was M79.0— Other soft tissue disorders, not elsewhere classified; rheumatism, unspecified. This includes fibromyalgia and fibrositis.
	An FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within the year. Figures in this table have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data.
	People with fibromyalgia can access the normal range of NHS services according to their needs. There is also information available from NHS Direct on fibromyalgia either by telephone or on their website.
	We do not hold information centrally on how NHS services are configured locally. It is for NHS authorities in the north east to decide whether or not they want to fund a multidisciplinary clinic for fibromyalgia as they are responsible for commissioning local services.

Suicides

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made towards his target for the reduction of suicides; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 23 October 2001, Official Report, column 147W.

Primary Care Trusts

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received from PCGs and PCTs on their state of preparation for new PCT responsibilities.

John Hutton: I have received no representations from primary care groups (PCGs) or primary care trusts (PCTs) on their state of preparation for their new PCT responsibilities. All PCTs have been established after full and open consultation locally, giving every opportunity for views and concerns to be expressed and addressed at that stage.

Ring-fenced Funding

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent ring-fenced money allocated to specific services in Barnet (a) was used in 2001–02 and (b) is proposed to be used in 2002–03 for reducing deficits and for other purposes outside the ring-fence; what the original ring-fencing was proposed for in each case; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: The main unified allocation for 2001–02 made to health authorities did not include ring-fenced allocations for specific services.
	In 2001–02, some funds were hypothecated at a national level only.
	In 2002–03, there is limited earmarking of funds within allocations. This is to allow HAs to be able to manage flexibly the resources available to them. The following sums are included in allocations with the intention that they are spent on the purpose for which they were allocated.
	
		Barnet, Enfield and Haringey health authority
		
			  £000 
		
		
			 Mental health 1,342 
			 CHD 1,074 
			 Cancer 1,360 
			 Information management and technology 993 
			 Primary care 1,494 
			 Capacity 7,604 
			  
			  13,866 
		
	
	Barnet Primary Care Trust is still in the process of agreeing its financial plan for 2002–03.

York Formula Calculations

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to announce the findings of the review into the York formula calculations.

John Hutton: The intention is that, following the review, the new formula will be ready for 2003–04 allocations. We plan to announce these in the autumn.

Social Workers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social workers have been recruited by local authorities since the Government launched its publicised recruitment drive last year.

Jacqui Smith: There was a rise of 780 whole-time equivalent social work staff working for councils between 30 September 1999 and 30 September 2000. More recent figures are not yet available. However, the main aim of the social care recruitment campaign is to raise the number of people applying for social work training by 5,000 by 2004. As the current social work training takes two years, and the earliest that someone reacting to the campaign could join a course is autumn 2002, we would not expect to see the effects of the campaign on an increase in social workers being recruited by local authorities until summer 2004 at the earliest.

Radiographers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the vacancy rates for radiographers, broken down by health authority.

John Hutton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Hypothermia (Portsmouth)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners in Portsmouth have died from hypothermia in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mike Hancock, dated 10 April 2002
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many pensioners in Portsmouth have died from hypothermia in the last 12 months. (46443)
	The most recent annual figures are for the calendar year 2000. In that year, of those resident in Portsmouth Unitary Authority at death, there were four deaths among men aged 65 and over and women aged 60 and over where hypothermia (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 991.6) was mentioned on the death certificate.

Public Service Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which public service agreement targets scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date.

John Hutton: Information about progress on public service agreement targets will be published in the Department's 2002 departmental report.

PFI/PPPs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the (a) private finance initiative and (b) public private partnership projects which have been delayed.

John Hutton: A delay of three months was experienced in assessing the "Retention of Employment" model at the three pilot sites. However, as announced on 18 March 2002, we are now satisfied that the model does provide value for money and that we will be proceeding on this basis for future national health service private finance initiative (PFI) projects.
	No other PFI schemes are at a stage where the model has caused any delays.

Medical Negligence Claims

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total amount paid by the NHS for medical negligence claims in 2001–02.

Hazel Blears: Figures for clinical negligence expenditure by the NHS can be found in the National Audit Summarised Accounts for Health Authorities, NHS Trusts and the NHS Litigation Authority.
	The Figure for 2001–02 is not yet available.

Anaesthesia Services

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many community hospitals no longer carry out operations under general anaesthetic because of a shortage of consultant anaesthetists.

John Hutton: The Department does not collect figures on the numbers of community hospitals which carry out operations under general anaesthetic.
	At September 2001, there were 3,550 (headcount) consultant anaesthetists (whole-time equivalent 3,320) for all trusts in England. Our current projections show that by 2004, there will be an increase of around 1,070 trained specialists in anaesthetics.

Road Accidents

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average length of time was which it took the medical services to complete all their official duties at an accident site on (a) an A-road and (b) a motorway in each of the last three years.

Hazel Blears: The information is not available in the form requested. Information about the proportion of emergency calls resulting in an ambulance arriving at the scene of a reported incident within our target response times for NHS ambulance trusts in England, are contained in the Department's Statistical Bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 2000–01". A copy is in the Library and available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/ public/sb0115.htm.

Regulatory Impact Unit

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many members his Department employs in its regulatory impact unit; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Two officials are employed under the leadership of a branch head within my Department's regulatory impact unit. The unit works with the Department's policy officials and the Cabinet Office regulatory impact unit to prepare regulatory impact assessments and identify suitable regulatory reform measures.

Fluoride

Robert Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what financial support he gives to organisations which promote the use of fluoride.

Hazel Blears: We have given financial support to the British Fluoridation Society since 1975. The Society has both a promotional role and an information gathering function, and produces objective, evidence based information when responding to inquiries.

Strategic Health Authorities

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will encourage strategic health authorities to establish their headquarters as close to the balance of population in the area as possible.

John Hutton: The location of headquarters for new strategic health authorities is a matter for the Chief Executive (designate) and the Chair (designate) in the light of options appraisals conducted at the same time as the boundary consultation exercise. The Department does not consider it necessary to offer specific advice to the leaders of the new StHAs on the location of their headquarters.

Adolescent Mental Health Unit, Tolworth

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the cost of opening a new adolescent mental health unit at Tolworth.

Jacqui Smith: The estimated cost of opening a new adolescent mental health unit at Tolworth was given as £1.7 million in the outline business case.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the initial estimates of the cost of delivering a world-class mental health service referred to on page 115 of "Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View".

Jacqui Smith: The initial estimate of the cost of delivering a world-class mental health service has already been given on page 115 of "Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View". This estimate was £3.2 billion per year.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are (a) rough sleepers and (b) suffer from mental illness.

Jacqui Smith: The Prime Minister announced on 3 December 2001 that his target to reduce rough sleeping by two thirds had been met and that 532 people were sleeping rough in England, compared to around 1,850 in June 1998. This represents a reduction of 71 per cent.
	The support needs profile identified in the Social Exclusion Unit's 1998 report into rough sleeping highlighted that 30–50 per cent. had mental health problems. The Homelessness Directorate is currently looking into the support needs of those people that remain sleeping rough to ascertain whether people are refusing offers of help to come inside as a lifestyle choice or due to other factors such as mental health or substance misuse issues.

Mental Health

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on the promotion of mental health services (a) in the UK and (b) in target specific groups in the last three years; and if he will list the campaigns.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available centrally. However, Standard One of the National Service Framework for Mental Health requires health and social services in England to promote mental health for all, working with individuals and communities, and to combat discrimination against individuals and groups with mental health problems, and promote their social inclusion. Local services have been asked to develop and agree evidence-based mental health promotion strategies based on local needs assessment by March 2002.
	In addition, the Department has developed its "mind out for mental health" campaign to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. This campaign is targeting three particular groups: employers, young people and the media as well as the public at large. In the financial year 2000–01 the Department spent £573,000 on the mind out for mental health campaign. £900,000 has been allocated to the campaign in the year 2001–2002.

NHS Concordat

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations have been carried out under the NHS Concordat since November 2000.

John Hutton: Since November 2000 the Independent Healthcare Association (IHA) has collected monthly data from independent healthcare providers about the number of NHS patients treated by them. According to data made available to the Department by the IHA, between November 2000 and January 2002 (the latest month for which figures are available) at least 88,000 procedures were carried out in the independent sector in England, paid for by the NHS. This includes out-patient appointments, day cases and in-patient treatment.

NHS Patients (Overseas Treatment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is for national health service patients having received treatment in French and German facilities having follow-on treatment there if equivalent treatment can be provided locally.

John Hutton: The national health service commissioners involved in the pilot programme for sending NHS patients overseas have aimed to purchase complete packages of care for patients, so as to reduce as far as possible the burden on the NHS of follow-up treatment. Any subsequent care and treatment that is required is organised by the NHS locally.

NHS Patients (Overseas Treatment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to make an announcement on the cost of NHS patients being treated in continental hospitals.

John Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin) on 13 February 2002, Official Report, column 486W.

NHS Expenditure

Michael Howard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out the per capita spending on the NHS in 2001–02 in England; and the equivalent figures for planned expenditure in 2002–03.

John Hutton: Planned NHS expenditure per capita is set out in the table.
	
		£ 
		
			   Spend per capita 
		
		
			 2001–02 970 
			 2002–03 1,060

NHS Staff

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates he has made of the cost to the NHS of investigations of NHS staff who have been suspended from work in the last two years.

John Hutton: The cost of investigating suspended national health service staff is a matter for national health service employers. The Department collects quarterly information in regard to the suspension of hospital medical and dental staff and overall costs incurred. At 31 December 2001, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 29 doctors and community dentists currently suspended for more than six months.

Procurement Savings

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of procurement savings he expects NHS trusts to achieve in 2001–02.

John Hutton: The Audit Commission and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency have been collating information on the level of procurement savings achieved by acute NHS trusts in England in 2001–02. This information will be available from May 2002.

NHS Complaints Procedure

Kerry Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to allow patients to be given the right to have a complaint heard within the NHS complaints procedure when a hospital has treated the matter as disciplinary; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: A complaint can already be either investigated or recommenced under the NHS complaints procedure if it has firstly, or at some point during the complaints procedure, been referred to a NHS trust's disciplinary process. This would only happen where there were outstanding matters in the complaint that had been considered, but not resolved, by the disciplinary process. Any issues in the complaint not referred to the disciplinary process should continue to be investigated under the complaints procedure.

Appointments

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of appointees by the NHS Appointments Commission to NHS trusts, health authorities and PCTs in Somerset and Dorset since 1 April 2001 have declared political activity with the (a) Labour party, (b) Conservative party and (c) Liberal Democrats.

Hazel Blears: The political activity declared by candidates appointed to national health service boards in Somerset and Dorset by the NHS Appointments Commission since the commission's establishment on 1 April 2001 has been as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 None declared 15 
			 Conservative 1 
			 Labour 3 
			 Liberal Democrat 5 
			  
			 Total 24

Departmental Contracts

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the 30 largest contracts awarded by his Department from (a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999, (c) May 1999 to April 2000, (d) May 2000 to April 2001 and (e) May 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, stating in each case the values of the contracts and the companies with which the contracts were placed.

Hazel Blears: The Department does not centrally hold information on individual contract values. It is not possible to provide a full answer to this question without disproportionate cost.

Hospital Waiting Lists

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Greater London had been waiting up to (a) six, (b) 12, (c) 15 and (d) 18 months for hospital treatment in each month since October 2001.

John Hutton: The number of patients in Greater London waiting up to (a) six, (b) 12, (c) 15 and (d) 18 months for hospital treatment in each month from October 2001 until the end of February 2002 are shown in the table.
	
		In-patient waiting times at London trusts—October 2001 to February 2002
		
			  0–5 months 6–11 months 12–14 months 15–17 months 18 months plus 
		
		
			  Numbers waiting   
			 March 1997 140,113 46,169 6,576 1,731 57 
			 October 2001 114,018 34,257 6,565 1,852 28 
			 November 2001 116,321 32,445 5,818 804 14 
			 December 2001 116,084 36,659 5,601 761 1 
			 January 2002 117,150 37,688 5,234 502 3 
			 February 2002 120,005 36,065 5,040 228 0 
			   
			  Percentage waiting   
			 March 1997 72 24 3 1 0 
			 October 2001 73 22 4 1 0 
			 November 2001 75 21 4 1 0 
			 December 2001 73 23 4 0 0 
			 January 2002 73 23 3 0 0 
			 February 2002 74 22 3 0 0 
			  Change since March 1997   
			 March 1997 — — — — — 
			 October 2001 -26,095 -11,912 -11 121 -29 
			 November 2001 -23,792 -13,724 -758 -927 -43 
			 December 2001 -24,029 -9,510 -975 -970 -56 
			 January 2002 -22,963 -8,481 -1,342 -1,229 -54 
			 February 2002 -20,108 -10,104 -1536 -1,503 -57 
			   
			  Percentage change since March 1997 
			 March 1997 — — — — — 
			 October 2001 -19 -26 0 7 -51 
			 November 2001 -17 -30 -12 -54 -75 
			 December 2001 -17 -21 -15 -56 -98 
			 January 2002 -16 -18 -20 -71 -95 
			 February 2002 -14 -22 -23 -87 -100 
		
	
	Source:
	Published waiting list returns

Hospital Waiting Lists

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Greater London had been waiting more than 13 weeks to see a consultant at the latest available date.

John Hutton: The number of patients in Greater London waiting for more than 13 weeks to see a consultant at the end of February 2002 is shown in the table.
	
		Patients waiting 13 weeks or more for a first out-patient appointment at London trusts—February 2002
		
			  March 1998 February 2001 February 2002 
		
		
			 13 weeks and over 65,899 59,991 59,231 
			 Change since March 1998
			 Number — -5,908 -6,668 
			 Percentage — -9 -10 
			 Change since February 2001
			 Number — — -760 
			 Percentage — — -1 
			 
			 26 weeks and over 25,954 (145)— 10,372 
			 Change since March 1998
			 Number — — -15,582 
			 Percentage — — -60 
		
	
	(145) Not collected
	Source:
	Published waiting list returns

Hospital Waiting Lists

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people were waiting in England for in-patient treatment at the latest date for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many people in England were waiting (a) up to 12, (b) up to 15, (c) up to 18 and (d) over 18 months for in-patient treatment in each of the last six months.

John Hutton: There were 1,050,400 patients waiting for an elective admission to a NHS trust in England at 28 February 2002.
	The table shows the number of patients waiting for elective admission by length of time waited in each of the last six months.
	
		Patients waiting for elective admission (position at the end of the month), England
		
			  Patients waiting in months  
			 Month ending Up to 12 13 to 15 16 to 18 Over 18 
		
		
			 September 2001 978,306 33,860 10,063 209 
			 October 2001 980,692 31,613 7,946 129 
			 November 2001 985,751 28,739 4,219 23 
			 December 2001 1,006,165 27,181 4,166 9 
			 January 2002 1,014,841 26,400 3,156 28 
			 February 2002 1,010,704 23,873 1,942 3 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures are for the English responsible population. Some patients may be waiting for treatment at non-English NHS trusts
	Source:
	Department of Health form QF01

Operations

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the variation in the cost of operations in NHS hospitals and health authorities.

John Hutton: The latest information on the variation in the cost of operations in NHS hospitals is provided in 'Reference Costs 2001'. (Copies of this are held in the Library. It also available at www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexec/ refcosts.htm.) There is no information on the cost of operations by health authorities.
	An analysis of the published information on reference costs shows there is still a significant variation in the cost of some operations. Publishing comparative information of this sort is part of a wider strategy to improve performance in the NHS, which also includes:
	Investment—including 7,500 more consultants and 20,000 more nurses by 2004;
	National standards—such as those set out in the National Service Frameworks;
	Stronger regulation and inspection—where the Commission for Health Improvement will play a key role; and
	Spreading best practice—for example, by the Modernisation Agency.

Operations

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the variation in the cost of a hip replacement operation in an NHS hospital.

John Hutton: The reference costs provide the best source of information on the variation in the cost of hip replacement operations. (Copies of this are held in the Library and it also available at www.doh.gov.uk/ nhsexec/refcosts.htm.) The information for 2000–01 includes the following for elective primary hip replacements:
	
		
			   £ 
		
		
			 Average cost for England 4,179 
			 Inter-quartile range 3,650 to 4,702 
			 Lowest recorded cost 566 
			 Highest recorded cost 12,907 
		
	
	The extent of care delivered within this definition can vary, because of local factors such as service delivery and data recording. The best indicator of cost variation is the inter-quartile range as this contains a significantly high percentage of total activity.

NHS Professionals

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the additional costs involved in providing temporary staff with enhanced contractual terms through NHS Professionals.

John Hutton: NHS Professionals charges a management fee to recoup operating costs currently set at a maximum of 7.5 per cent. This compares favourably with that of commercial agencies as highlighted in the Audit Commission report "Brief Encounters—Getting the Best from Temporary Nursing Staff". This report indicated wide variations in the commission rates charged by agencies with an averaging charge of 20.5 per cent.

NHS Properties

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what was the (a) estimated and (b) actual value of NHS property sales in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many NHS properties are (a) for sale and (b) scheduled to be sold; and what their estimated sale value is on the open market;
	(3)  how many NHS properties are empty.

Hazel Blears: The planned and actual receipts from sale of property from when the spending review process started is as follows.
	
		£ million 
		
			 Year Planned Actual 
		
		
			 1997–98 289 471 
			 1998–99 272 500 
			 1999–2000 337 549 
			 2000–01 363 647 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures shown for Hospital and Community Health Services capital receipts.
	The main reason for the disparity between planned and actual sales is due to transfers between NHS trusts or to NHS trusts from the Secretary of State for Health's ownership being recorded as a sale.
	Details of how many properties are for sale or scheduled for sale is not held centrally. The planned receipts from sales of property is:
	
		
			  Planned (£ million) 
		
		
			 2001–02 351 
			 2002–03 470 
			 2003–04 270 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures shown for Hospital and Community Health Services planned capital receipts.
	The Department does not hold information about the numbers of properties that are vacant at any one time. There are a variety of reasons why property might be vacant, including awaiting refurbishment/development for health care purposes, or awaiting sale. The NHS seeks to make the optimum use of the estate, and to keep the number of empty properties to a minimum.

Medical Treatment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK patients were treated in each overseas country (a) in and (b) outside the EEA in 2000–01; and how many patients from each country (i) in and (ii) outside the EEA were treated in the UK in each year.

John Hutton: The available information has been placed in the Library.
	UK residents are treated abroad in a variety of circumstances. No information is held centrally on treatment obtained abroad privately and which are the patients' own responsibility. Patients are likewise personally responsible for arranging and paying for treatments given in countries with which the UK has no reciprocal health agreements, with the exception of a few instances where special approval has been given for the NHS to pay for highly specialised treatment for serious conditions.
	There are reciprocal health agreements with some non-EEA countries which provide emergency care for UK residents on temporary visits. But because these are on a cost waiver basis there is generally little information available to the UK on numbers of patients treated in the partner country.
	Regulation (EEC) 1408/71 is the EC legislation which co-ordinates the health care systems of the EEA. It allows for health care to be provided abroad in a variety of circumstances. Member states pay each other for these treatments but information available is generally on treatment costs rather than patient numbers.
	For patients coming to the UK, no information is held by the Department on treatments in the private sector. Neither is information held centrally on the number of patients not normally resident in the UK who have been treated by the NHS.
	The bilateral health agreements with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, some Caribbean and Atlantic Overseas Territories, Gibraltar and Malta permit limited numbers of referrals to the UK specifically for treatment. Some information is available centrally in respect of emergency treatments provided in the UK under bilateral reciprocal health agreements and in respect of treatments provided under Regulation 1408/71.

Cataracts

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost to the NHS of (a) a cataract extraction and (b) a cataract extraction with a lens implant was in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Hazel Blears: The national average cost for a cataract extraction with lens implant varies according to how the procedure is undertaken. For 2000–01 the national unit costs are:
	
		
			   Unit cost £ 
		
		
			  Phakoemulsification cataract extraction with lens implant 
			 Elective in-patient 861 
			 Non-elective in-patient 1,073 
			 Day case 583 
			 Other cataract extraction with lens implant  
			 Elective in-patient 799 
			 Non-elective in-patient 1,283 
			 Day case 572 
		
	
	These costs exclude the cost of out-patient attendances. In 2000–01, 594,320 such attendances were reported for cataract and lenses. The unit cost is £60 per attendance.
	No separate costings are available for a cataract extraction without implant.

Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2002, Official Report, column 833W, on hearing aids, when he expects to announce the latest wave of trusts sites to receive funding for the provision of digital hearing aids.

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has determined the additional hospital trusts which will be able to offer digital hearing aids; and when an announcement will be made.

Jacqui Smith: I am happy to announce that the sites listed will form the second wave of the Modernising Hearing Aid Services pilot project:
	Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust
	Bolton Hospital NHS Trust
	Bournemouth Primary Care Trust
	Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust
	Countess of Chester NHS Trust
	Croydon and Surrey Downs and Mayday University Hospitals NHS Trust
	Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary NHS Trust
	Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust
	Mid Cheshire Healthcare NHS Trust
	North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust
	George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
	The Royal Free Hospital
	Rochdale NHS Trust
	Royal Devon and Exeter Hospitals NHS Trust
	Salford Primary Care Trust
	Sherwood Forest NHS Trust
	West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust
	Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust
	University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
	Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS Trust
	Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust
	Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust
	Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospital NHS Trust
	Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust
	East Cheshire NHS Trust
	Hastings and Rother NHS Trust
	Royal Liverpool Hospitals
	Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust
	North Devon Primary Care Trust.
	In addition, Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital, which provided digital hearing aids to adults only as part of the first wave, will now be providing hearing aids to children as well. University Hospitals Birmingham will now be fitting children's hearing aids at the Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Adoption

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many representations he has received from hon. Members regarding amending the Adoption and Children Bill to extend rights of adoption to unmarried couples;
	(2)  how many representations he has received from outside bodies and individuals regarding amending the Adoption and Children Bill to extend rights of adoption to unmarried couples;
	(3)  what consultation is taking place by his Department on amending the Adoption and Children Bill to extend rights of adoption to unmarried couples;
	(4)  when his Department will announce his policy on amending the Adoption and Children Bill to extend rights of adoption to unmarried couples;
	(5)  what his assessment is of the number of unmarried couples who would apply to adopt children if the Adoption and Children Bill were amended to allow them to do so.

Jacqui Smith: We are looking thoroughly at the many and complex issues of partnership registration, rights and responsibilities. Adoption will, alongside all other relevant issues, be considered as part of that work.
	Under the existing Adoption Act 1976 single people may adopt (regardless of sexual orientation), but only married couples may adopt jointly. It is open for one unmarried partner to adopt a child and for the other to obtain parental responsibility by applying for a residence order in respect of the child. The Adoption and Children Bill makes no change in this area. However the Government recognises that it is an issue for debate. We have taken a consultative approach throughout the progress of this Bill, listening to the views of a wide range of interested parties through the Special Standing Committee. A number of amendments, supported by Members from all sides of the House have been tabled for Report stage. We are giving these amendments careful consideration and they will be debated at Report.
	Since the introduction of the Adoption and Children Bill on 19 October 2001, the Department has received ten letters regarding adoption by unmarried couples from hon. Members and over 350 from outside bodies and private individuals. In addition there have been five previous Parliamentary Questions answered and two meetings between Ministers and hon. Members on this topic.
	A MORI poll commissioned by BAAF in September 2001, "Attitudes to Adoption", found that 41 per cent. of cohabiting couples say they have considered or would consider adopting a child in the future, compared to 25 per cent. of married couples. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Health and Race Co-ordinators

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what discussions his Department has had with the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority about the role of health and race coordinators;
	(2)  how many health and race coordinators are employed by his Department;
	(3)  what proposals he has to assess the disciplinary procedure for (a) social workers and (b) health and race coordinators employed by the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority;
	(4)  what the role is of health and race coordinators employed by health authorities;
	(5)  what rights of appeal are available to employees of Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority suspended on disciplinary matters;
	(6)  what is the policy of his Department on referring health and race coordinators in the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority to an assessment centre;
	(7)  how many health and race coordinators are employed by health authorities in England, broken down by health authority.

John Hutton: The Department of Health does not employ health and race coordinators and does not require organisations within the NHS to do so. However, many NHS organisations have sought to establish dedicated posts to work on issues of health, race and ethnicity, in response to the diverse needs of their local communities. Information on such posts is not collected centrally.
	Similarly, although there are assessment centres for NHS staff in accessing places on a variety of courses, which are mainly linked to management schemes, there is no specific departmental policy on referring health and race coordinators to these centres. This would be a matter for the local NHS as the employer to address.
	Neither has the Department had discussions with Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority about health and race coordinators.
	The Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA do not employ any social workers. They are employed for those areas by the local councils, who are responsible for all disciplinary procedures. All NHS staff have a right of appeal against a disciplinary penalty available to them. This, however, does not include suspension, which does not fall within the definition of a disciplinary penalty.
	The Department of Health is committed to equality and diversity. "The NHS Plan: a plan for investment, a plan for reform", published in July 2000, recognises the need for a modern NHS to respond to the needs of our diverse, multi-cultural society.
	The Department has also launched an Equalities Framework for the NHS, "The Vital Connection", in April 2000 which includes clear requirements for the NHS to promote race equality and introduces a package of standards, indicators and monitoring arrangements.
	Both these documents have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Lung Consultants

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many lung consultants there were in the NHS in each year since 1997 broken down by health authority.

John Hutton: The information is shown in the table.
	Cardio-thoracic consultants and respiratory consultants deal with lungs as part of their wider responsibilities.
	
		Hospital medical consultants within the cardio-thoracic surgery and respiratory medicine specialties by health authority— England, at 30 September -- Number
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001  
			 HA name Cardio- thoracic surgery Respiratory medicine Cardio- thoracic surgery Respiratory medicine Cardio- thoracic surgery Respiratory medicine Cardio- thoracic surgery Respiratory medicine Cardio- thoracic surgery Respiratory medicine 
		
		
			 Avon 10 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 10 20 
			 Barking and Havering — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Barnsley — 0 — 0 — 0  0 — 0 
			 Bedfordshire 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Berkshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich — 0 — 10 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Birmingham 10 10 10 10 10 20 10 20 10 20 
			 Bradford 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Brent and Harrow — 10 — 10 — 10 — 10 — 0 
			 Buckinghamshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Bury and Rochdale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Cambridge 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 20 10 10 
			 Camden and Islington 10 0 10 10 10 10 20 10 20 10 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 County Durham — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Coventry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Croydon — — — — — — — 0 — 0 
			 Doncaster — 0 — 0 — — — 0 — 0 
			 Dorset — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 10 
			 Dudley — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 10 
			 East Kent — 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 10 
			 East Lancashire 0 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 10 
			 East London and The City 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 10 
			 East Riding 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 East Surrey — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 East Sussex 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 10 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Gloucestershire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 10 — 0 
			 Herefordshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Hertfordshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Hillingdon 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 0 0 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 10 — 0 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 10 20 10 20 10 10 10 10 10 20 
			 Kingston and Richmond — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 10 10 20 10 20 10 20 20 20 20 
			 Leeds 10 0 0 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 
			 Leicestershire 10 0 10 0 10 10 10 10 10 10 
			 Lincolnshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Liverpool 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 10 10 10 
			 Manchester 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 20 10 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 0 0 0 10 10 10 10 0 0 10 
			 Morecambe Bay — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 10 10 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 10 
			 Norfolk 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 10 0 10 
			 North and East Devon — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North and Mid Hampshire — — — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North Cheshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North Cumbria — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North Derbyshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North Essex — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North Nottinghamshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 
			 North Staffordshire 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0 
			 North West Lancashire 0 0 10 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 
			 North Yorkshire — 0 — 0 — 10 — 10 — 10 
			 Northamptonshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Northumberland — — — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Nottingham 0 10 0 0 0 10 10 10 10 10 
			 Oxfordshire 0 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest — 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Rotherham — 0 — — — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Salford and Trafford 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Sandwell — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Sefton — 10 — 10 — 10 — 10 — 10 
			 Sheffield 0 0 0 10 0 10 10 10 10 10 
			 Shropshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Somerset — — — — — — — 0 — 0 
			 South and West Devon — 0 0 0 10 0 10 0 10 0 
			 South Cheshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 — 0 
			 South Derbyshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 South Essex — 0 — 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 
			 South Humber — — — 0 — 0 — 0 — — 
			 South Lancashire — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 South Staffordshire — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 10 10 10 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 
			 Stockport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Suffolk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Sunderland — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Tees 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 10 10 0 
			 Wakefield — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Walsall — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Warwickshire 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 West Kent — 0 — 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 
			 West Pennine — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 West Surrey 0 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 West Sussex — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Wigan and Bolton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 
			 Wiltshire — — — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Wirral — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Wolverhampton — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
			 Worcester — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 
		
	
	Department of Health 2001 medical and dental workforce census
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	2. '—' denotes zero.
	3. '0' denotes five or less.

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of how many additional consultants are needed if consultants work the European legal limit of hours each week.

John Hutton: We expect that the growth in consultant numbers to deliver the NHS Plan (7,500 more by 2004) and strong continuing growth thereafter will provide sufficient numbers for all consultants to adhere to the European working time directive.
	Through new ways of working, supported by pay modernisation, we expect to see increased numbers of staff working more flexibly with increased productivity and some roles currently carried out by consultants being transferred to other members of the health care team.

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultants practising in the NHS are aged over 55 years; and how many consultants aged over 55 years were practising in (a) 2000, (b) 1998, (c) 1996, (d) 1994 and (e) 1992.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): medical and dental consultants, England at 30 September each year
		
			   1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Consultants over 55 3,250 3,200 3,270 3,490 3,720 3,890 
			 Percentage of all consultants 19.0 17.7 16.1 15.7 15.3 15.1 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
	The number of consultants practising in the NHS has increased by 50 per cent. since 1992 and the age profile of the consultant workforce has become younger.

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultant vacancies there are.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Consultant vacancies in NHS trusts, England—3 month vacancy rates(146),(147) and numbers(148)
		
			  Whole-time equivalents 
		
		
			 3 month vacancy rates (percentage) 3.0 
			 3 month vacancies (number) 670 
			 Staff in post 21,630 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2001 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).
	2. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post from the September 2000 medical and dental workforce census (whole-time equivalent).
	3. Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.
	4. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
	5. Due to rounding calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.
	Source:
	Department of Health Vacancies Survey 2001
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census 2000

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hours consultant physicians are contracted to work per week; how many hours were worked by consultant physicians over the contracted time, on average, in the last 12 months; and how many additional consultants would be needed to maintain levels of service if consultants worked only their contracted hours.

John Hutton: Consultants hold a professional contract that does not specify particular hours of work. Whole-time and maximum part-time contract holders have a contractual commitment to devote substantially the whole of their professional time, up to 11 sessions, to their NHS duties.
	The table shows the number of hospital medical consultants by contract in England as at 30 September 2001. The table gives a breakdown of contract holders on national terms and conditions of service by (a) whole time, (b) maximum part time and (c) part time. The number of honorary contract holders is also provided.
	
		Hospital medical consultants by nature of contract—England at 30 September 2001
		
			  Consultant 
		
		
			 All contracts 24,400 
			   
			 Whole time  
			 Number 13,810 
			 Percentage 56.6 
			   
			 Max. part-time  
			 Number 5,520 
			 Percentage 22.6 
			   
			 Part-time  
			 Number 3,530 
			 Percentage 14.5 
			   
			 Honorary  
			 Number 1,550 
			 Percentage 6.3 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	2. Due to rounding figures may not equal the sum of component parts.
	3. Percentages were calculated using unrounded figures.
	Source:
	Department of Health 2001 medical and dental workforce census.
	A 1999 survey by management consultants KPMG for the 28th report of the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration showed that the average number of hours worked per week for whole time consultants, excluding emergency recalls, was 51.3 hours and for maximum part-timers 48.7 hours.

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in consultant recruitment in the last 12 months.

John Hutton: As at 30 September 2001, the date of the Department's annual work force censuses, 1,380 more consultants were working in the national health Service than there were at 30 September 2000. Overall since 1997 the number of consultants employed in the national health service has increased by 4,320 (20 per cent.).

Consultants

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultant physicians there are; and how many there were in each year since 1992.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.
	The number of consultant physicians has increased by 47 per cent. since 1992.
	
		Hospital medical consultant physicians(146)—all specialties
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1992 4,040 
			 1993 4,090 
			 1994 4,110 
			 1995 4,510 
			 1996 4,720 
			 1997 4,940 
			 1998 5,050 
			 1999 5,290 
			 2000 5,540 
			 2001 5,930 
		
	
	(146) Physicians as recognised by the Royal College of Physicians includes staff in the listed specialties:
	Allergy, Audiological medicine, Cardiology, Clinical genetics, Clinical Neurophysiology, Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, Dermatology, Endocrinology and diabetes mellitus, Gastroenterology, General Medicine, Genito-urinary medicine, Geriatric medicine, Haematology, Immunology, Infectious diseases, Medical oncology, Neurology, Nuclear medicine, Palliative medicine, Rehabilitation medicine, Renal medicine, Respiratory medicine, Rheumatology.
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census

NHS Staff Suspensions

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many staff within the NHS have been suspended from work as a result of allegations and complaints by whistleblowers in the last two full available years;
	(2)  how many whistleblowers have been suspended from work within the NHS as a result of allegations and complaints in the last two full years that figures are available.

John Hutton: We expect a climate of openness and dialogue in the national health service and a culture and an environment that encourages staff to feel able to raise concerns about health care matters sensibly and responsibly without fear of victimisation.
	NHS trusts routinely report suspensions lasting six months or longer to the Department. As at 31 December 2001, the latest date for which figures are available, 29 hospitals and community medical and dental staff had been suspended for more than six months. These suspensions are not as a result of individuals whistleblowing.
	Information on the suspension of individuals in other staff groups is not collected within the Department.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what trend data are available to measure progress against the PSA target for a reduction in the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury.

Jacqui Smith: Data to monitor the PSA target to reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury (less inquest-adjourned cases) are obtained from mortality data published by the Office for National Statistics. Data are for England.
	This PSA target is the target published in 2000 in the NHS Plan and previously in 1999 in the White Paper "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation" for a 20 per cent. reduction against a baseline of the average age standardised mortality rate for the three years 1995–97.
	The trend data are as follows:
	
		Three-year average age standardised
		
			  Period Mortality rate per 100,000 population 
		
		
			 1995–96–97 9.07 
			 1996–97–98 9.18 
			 1997–98–99 9.33 
			 1998–99–2000 9.44

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the PSA target for efficiency and other value for money gains in personal social services expenditure in 2001–02 will be met.

Jacqui Smith: No more figures are available since the answer I gave the hon. Member on 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 938W. The in-year estimates I quoted then are what are used to monitor efficiency gains and no further information will be available.
	Information provided by councils during in-year monitoring suggests that for social services in England the estimated efficiency gain was 2.1 per cent. for 1999–2000, 2.3 per cent. for 2000–01 and 2.5 per cent. for 2001–02. This means the efficiency gains achieved in 2001–02 fell short of the 3 per cent. target, although the targets of 2 per cent. for each of the previous two years were exceeded. Over the three years the total estimated efficiency gain was 7.1 per cent, all but meeting the total of the efficiency targets over three years of 7.2 per cent.

Performance Targets

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the PSA target for all NHS trusts to achieve three per cent. procurement savings in 2000–01 was met.

John Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 28 November 2001, Official Report, column 987W.

Diseases (Ships)

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of (a) gastrointestinal disease and (b) Legionnaire's disease in passengers or crew members of ships have been notified to the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: The Public Health laboratory Service (PHLS) does not collect data on the number of cases of gastroenteritis in passengers and crew on ships.
	Legionnaire's disease is not statutorily notifiable. Laboratory reports of Legionnaire's disease associated with ships, England and Wales from 1992 to 2001 are as follows:
	
		
			 Year Cases of Legionnaire's disease 
		
		
			 1992 0 
			 1993 0 
			 1994 2 
			 1995 2 
			 1996 3 
			 1997 6 
			 1998 3 
			 1999 2 
			 2000 0 
			 2001* 0 
			  
			 Total 18 
		
	
	* provisional data

Diseases (Ships)

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he proposes to take in respect of the World Health Organisation guide to ship sanitation.

Yvette Cooper: The UK Government are participating in the revision of the World Health Organisation Guide to Ship Sanitation, which is due to be published in 2003.

Pneumococcal Disease

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the impact of the introduction of the conjugate pneumococcal vaccine in (a) the USA and (b) other European countries on the incidence of pneumococcal disease in those aged under two.

Yvette Cooper: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has been introduced into the routine programme in the US and since the vaccine was licensed there has been little information on its national impact, other than in the population that took part in the clinical trials. Nevertheless, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has been made aware of these results. Similarly, reviews of the epidemiology of pneumococcal disease in England and Wales have been presented to the JCVI, along with progress reports on UK studies to evaluate the suitability of this vaccine for this country. There are only limited data available on pneumococcal disease in those under two years from other European countries.

Pneumococcal Disease

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine will be made available to all children aged under two.

Yvette Cooper: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has only recently been licensed for use in European Union countries. The Chief Medical Officer has already sent advice to doctors on the use of this vaccine in children less than two years, with risk factors for pneumococcal disease. Its use in all children will be dependent on the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the results of trials on the vaccine's suitability for inclusion in the national immunisation programme and considerations of costs and benefits.

Eye Tests

Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many old age pensioners in the Harwich constituency have benefited from the introduction of free eye tests.

Hazel Blears: Figures for the number of sight tests by constituency are not collected centrally.
	The table shows the number of national health service (NHS) sight tests in North Essex Health Authority for the years 1998–99 to 2000–01. Eligibility to NHS sight tests was extended to those aged 60 and over from 1 April 1999. Some of those benefiting from this extension may also have qualified for free sight tests on other grounds.
	General Ophthalmic Services: Number of sight tests paid for in North Essex HA for the years 1998–99 to 2000/01.
	
		General ophthalmic services: number of sight tests paid for in north Essex HA for the years 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			  Total number of sight tests Sight tests for 60 and over age group 
		
		
			 1998–99 128,200 (147)n/a 
			 1999–2000 176,200 73,000 
			 2000–01 181,800 90,606 
		
	
	(147) Not applicable

Dentistry

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of those aged under 18 were registered with a general dental service dentist in (a) each health authority and (b) England in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: Arrangements are now in place to ensure that patients can gain access to NHS services by calling NHS Direct. This means that even if a patient chooses not to register with a dentist it will still be possible for that patient to access all forms of dentistry that are provided by the NHS.
	The percentage of children registered with a General Dental Service (GDS) dentist per head of population for each health authority and England is shown in the table at 30 September 1997 to 2001.
	From September 1996, the registration period was changed to 15 months; previously child registrations expired at the end of the following calendar year. As a result, data held on registration numbers after 1997 are not comparable to earlier years.
	
		General Dental Service: Children registered by health authority at -- 30 September 1997 to 2001
		
			  Percentage of children registered(148),(149)  
			 Health authority 1997(150) 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 England 65 60 60 61 60 
			   
			 Avon 75 70 70 71 71 
			 Barking and Havering 56 49 50 51 52 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey 59 52 52 53 53 
			 Barnsley 67 61 62 62 62 
			 Bedfordshire 49 46 46 47 47 
			 Berkshire 63 57 59 58 56 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich 63 58 58 58 58 
			 Birmingham 58 52 52 51 50 
			 Bradford 55 50 49 50 50 
			 Brent and Harrow 60 52 54 54 55 
			 Buckinghamshire 66 61 60 60 59 
			 Bury and Rochdale 69 63 61 62 62 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 66 61 61 63 62 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon(151) 61 56 — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire(151) — — 58 59 59 
			 Camden and Islington 45 40 40 41 40 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 71 65 65 64 65 
			 County Durham 64 60 59 60 59 
			 Coventry 61 56 57 56 57 
			 Croydon 65 57 55 56 54 
			 Doncaster 73 68 65 67 67 
			 Dorset 77 72 73 73 72 
			 Dudley 55 52 52 51 51 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 56 50 48 49 51 
			 East Kent 66 61 59 61 60 
			 East Lancashire 65 60 59 58 56 
			 East London and The City 38 32 33 33 33 
			 East Norfolk(151) 72 68 — — — 
			 East Riding 65 60 61 62 63 
			 East Surrey 67 62 57 61 60 
			 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 67 62 62 62 61 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 69 64 66 65 65 
			 Gloucestershire 68 65 65 65 63 
			 Herefordshire 74 65 68 67 64 
			 Hertfordshire 73 68 68 69 69 
			 Hillingdon 62 56 56 57 57 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and SE Hampshire 62 59 60 61 60 
			 Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster 38 34 32 32 31 
			 Kingston and Richmond 66 59 59 59 55 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 49 43 40 40 41 
			 Leeds 68 64 65 64 63 
			 Leicestershire 66 62 62 61 63 
			 Lincolnshire 65 61 62 63 63 
			 Liverpool 66 60 60 60 59 
			 Manchester 61 52 54 53 51 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 56 50 50 52 52 
			 Morecambe Bay 64 61 61 61 61 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 65 59 61 61 61 
			 Norfolk(151) — — 64 64 63 
			 North and East Devon 70 65 68 71 69 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 64 60 59 60 61 
			 North Cheshire 68 61 61 61 61 
			 North Cumbria 66 64 67 68 69 
			 North Derbyshire 67 62 62 61 61 
			 North Essex 66 62 62 63 61 
			 North Nottinghamshire 72 67 68 70 69 
			 North Staffordshire 64 58 59 59 59 
			 North West Anglia(151) 61 56 — — — 
			 North West Lancashire 72 67 69 67 66 
			 North Yorkshire 72 67 68 68 68 
			 Northamptonshire 64 54 59 59 58 
			 Northumberland 68 64 64 65 65 
			 Nottingham 67 62 64 64 63 
			 Oxfordshire 61 57 57 60 60 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 63 56 55 57 57 
			 Rotherham 66 60 61 62 62 
			 Salford and Trafford 77 68 67 66 63 
			 Sandwell 50 48 50 51 51 
			 Sefton 74 69 69 65 63 
			 Sheffield 73 66 67 67 66 
			 Shropshire 73 68 68 68 66 
			 Solihull 62 55 58 58 59 
			 Somerset 74 69 67 70 66 
			 South and West Devon 70 65 66 67 67 
			 South Cheshire 74 62 64 64 65 
			 Southern Derbyshire 64 60 60 61 59 
			 South Essex 60 57 62 64 62 
			 South Humber 69 64 65 65 66 
			 South Lancashire 65 60 60 60 60 
			 South Staffordshire 71 66 66 65 64 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 71 67 67 65 65 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 68 61 61 56 56 
			 Stockport 75 70 71 71 70 
			 Suffolk 68 63 63 64 63 
			 Sunderland 68 63 64 64 64 
			 Tees 75 68 68 68 68 
			 Wakefield 71 65 65 65 65 
			 Walsall 56 50 51 51 49 
			 Warwickshire 67 62 63 62 65 
			 West Kent 64 61 62 62 63 
			 West Pennine 72 65 66 65 64 
			 West Surrey 69 63 63 63 63 
			 West Sussex 75 70 71 70 70 
			 Wigan and Bolton 70 67 66 65 65 
			 Wiltshire 67 63 66 67 66 
			 Wirral 72 69 69 66 65 
			 Wolverhampton 54 54 55 55 54 
			 Worcestershire 69 64 64 62 62 
		
	
	(148) Based on the number of registrations at 30 September each year.
	(149) ONS 1997 to 2000 mid year population estimates based on the 1991 census are used to calculate the percentage of children registered.
	(150) Registration rate is not comparable to later figures because of the change in the registration period to 15 months.
	(151) Three HAs: Cambridge and Huntingdon, East Norfolk and North West Anglia were replaced by two HAs: Cambridge and Norfolk in April 1999.

Dentistry

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of those aged 18 years and over were registered with a general dental service dentist in (a) each health authority and (b) England in each year from 1990 to 1999, inclusive.

Hazel Blears: Arrangements are now in place to ensure that patients can gain access to NHS services by calling NHS Direct. This means that even if a patient chooses not to register with a dentist it will still be possible for that patient to access all forms of dentistry that are provided by the NHS.
	The percentage of adults registered with a general dental service (GDS) dentist per head of population for each Family Health Service Authority and for England is shown in table 1 at 30 September 1992 to 1995.
	The percentage of adults registered with a GDS dentist per head of population for each health authority and for England is shown in table 2 at 30 September for each year since 1996.
	Comparable data for 1990 and 1991 are not available as registrations were only introduced in October 1990 and registration numbers had not yet had time to reach consistent levels.
	From September 1996, the registration period for adults was shortened from 24 to 15 months. This affected registration numbers. As a result, registration numbers after 1997 are not comparable to the numbers for earlier years. The data is also affected by gradual improvements in the methods used for the removal of duplicate registration records, which were first employed by the Dental Practice Board in 1993.
	
		Table 1: General Dental Service: -- Adults registered by Family Health Service Authority at30 September 1992 to 1995
		
			  Percentage of adults registered (152),(153),(154)  
			 Family Health Service Authority 1992 1993 1994 1995 
		
		
			 England 58 57 56 53 
			  
			 Avon 64 63 61 56 
			 Barking and Havering 50 52 51 47 
			 Barnet 39 39 40 37 
			 Barnsley 51 56 56 54 
			 Bedfordshire 50 52 52 49 
			 Berkshire 53 51 48 41 
			 Birmingham 61 60 60 58 
			 Bolton 56 58 61 58 
			 Bradford 61 62 61 59 
			 Brent and Harrow 56 57 58 56 
			 Bromley 37 34 33 31 
			 Buckinghamshire 55 50 46 41 
			 Bury 57 57 55 53 
			 Calderdale 66 68 65 63 
			 Cambridgeshire 58 56 55 52 
			 Camden and Islington 62 62 64 59 
			 Cheshire 63 63 62 60 
			 City and East London 51 53 51 47 
			 Cleveland 62 66 64 63 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 63 58 56 53 
			 Coventry 65 61 63 59 
			 Croydon 60 58 55 51 
			 Cumbria 59 56 53 50 
			 Derbyshire 54 53 52 50 
			 Devon 64 61 58 54 
			 Doncaster 60 64 63 62 
			 Dorset 65 63 61 58 
			 Dudley 55 56 57 54 
			 Durham 56 56 54 53 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 55 56 56 52 
			 East Sussex 62 60 58 56 
			 Enfield and Haringey 50 52 52 49 
			 Essex 53 53 53 50 
			 Gateshead 53 58 58 57 
			 Gloucestershire 65 53 47 40 
			 Greenwich and Bexley 54 53 52 47 
			 Hampshire 62 61 58 55 
			 Hereford and Worcester 59 60 59 58 
			 Hertfordshire 60 61 60 57 
			 Hillingdon 58 60 58 56 
			 Humberside 55 55 51 48 
			 Isle of Wight 62 56 51 47 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 47 47 47 44 
			 Kent 54 48 45 41 
			 Kingston and Richmond 40 42 41 41 
			 Kirklees 60 63 63 60 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 60 61 60 56 
			 Lancashire 58 56 55 52 
			 Leeds 62 61 58 56 
			 Leicestershire 59 58 57 55 
			 Lincolnshire 60 60 58 55 
			 Liverpool 58 60 61 58 
			 Manchester 67 69 69 65 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 52 51 50 49 
			 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 55 57 56 57 
			 Norfolk 60 59 57 52 
			 North Tyneside 60 60 60 60 
			 North Yorkshire 62 61 59 56 
			 Northamptonshire 55 56 56 56 
			 Northumberland 51 54 56 52 
			 Nottinghamshire 59 60 60 57 
			 Oldham 56 58 60 57 
			 Oxfordshire 52 48 40 34 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 53 55 56 52 
			 Rochdale 59 58 58 58 
			 Rotherham 51 55 52 52 
			 Salford 59 60 60 55 
			 Sandwell 58 58 59 58 
			 Sefton 62 64 64 63 
			 Sheffield 59 61 61 59 
			 Shropshire 64 63 60 50 
			 Solihull 51 50 49 48 
			 Somerset 66 69 66 60 
			 South Tyneside 55 56 57 57 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 59 61 61 59 
			 Staffordshire 54 53 51 48 
			 Stockport 67 66 66 65 
			 Suffolk 65 66 65 62 
			 Sunderland 55 57 57 57 
			 Surrey 56 54 52 48 
			 Tameside 55 55 53 53 
			 Trafford 71 68 67 68 
			 Wakefield 58 71 67 63 
			 Walsall 49 51 53 51 
			 Warwickshire 57 57 55 52 
			 West Sussex 62 59 56 54 
			 Wigan 59 59 62 59 
			 Wiltshire 55 55 54 51 
			 Wirral 64 65 65 63 
			 Wolverhampton 57 58 60 58 
		
	
	(152) Based on the number of registrations at 30 September each year
	(153) ONS 1992 to 1995 mid year population estimates based on the 1991 census are used to calculate the percentage of adults registered
	(154) Registration rates are based on a 24 month registration period
	
		Table 2: General Dental Service: -- Adults registered by health authority at 30 September 1996 to 1999
		
			  Percentage of adults registered(155),(156)  
			 Health Authority 1996(157) 1997(157) 1998 1999 
		
		
			 England 52 51 44 43 
			  
			 Avon 55 54 47 45 
			 Barking and Havering 48 48 39 38 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey 44 43 35 34 
			 Barnsley 55 55 50 49 
			 Bedfordshire 47 44 36 38 
			 Berkshire 39 39 32 33 
			 Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich 39 40 33 33 
			 Birmingham 57 57 49 48 
			 Bradford 57 56 49 48 
			 Brent and Harrow 56 56 43 43 
			 Buckinghamshire 39 36 31 30 
			 Bury and Rochdale 54 54 46 45 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 60 60 54 52 
			 Cambridge and Huntingdon(158) 48 46 39 — 
			 Cambridgeshire(158) — — — 40 
			 Camden and Islington 59 61 48 46 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 50 48 39 37 
			 County Durham 53 53 47 47 
			 Coventry 56 57 47 47 
			 Croydon 50 50 40 39 
			 Doncaster 62 62 56 54 
			 Dorset 55 55 49 49 
			 Dudley 52 51 45 46 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 51 52 41 38 
			 East Kent 43 43 38 37 
			 East Lancashire 53 54 47 47 
			 East London and The City 46 46 34 33 
			 East Norfolk(158) 54 53 48 — 
			 East Riding 46 46 41 42 
			 East Surrey 44 44 38 34 
			 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 55 53 45 43 
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 58 57 50 51 
			 Gloucestershire 38 37 31 31 
			 Herefordshire 63 61 50 51 
			 Hertfordshire 55 54 46 46 
			 Hillingdon 54 55 46 44 
			 Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and SE Hampshire 50 48 42 41 
			 Kensington and Chelsea Westminster 42 41 31 30 
			 Kingston and Richmond 39 37 30 29 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 55 55 44 40 
			 Leeds 55 54 49 48 
			 Leicestershire 54 53 46 46 
			 Lincolnshire 55 54 49 49 
			 Liverpool 58 58 48 47 
			 Manchester 63 63 51 51 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 48 48 38 37 
			 Morecambe Bay 53 52 46 46 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 57 57 49 50 
			 Norfolk(158) — — — 45 
			 North and East Devon 52 50 43 45 
			 North and Mid Hampshire 49 49 41 38 
			 North Cheshire 56 57 48 48 
			 North Cumbria 48 48 43 45 
			 North Derbyshire 47 45 40 40 
			 North Essex 52 51 44 46 
			 North Nottinghamshire 54 57 53 54 
			 North Staffordshire 42 42 36 37 
			 North West Anglia(158) 43 42 38 — 
			 North West Lancashire 53 56 50 51 
			 North Yorkshire 55 54 49 48 
			 Northamptonshire 55 56 47 50 
			 Northumberland 53 53 47 47 
			 Nottingham 59 60 54 52 
			 Oxfordshire 33 32 28 27 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 51 52 43 41 
			 Rotherham 52 52 46 46 
			 Salford and Trafford 60 59 50 49 
			 Sandwell 56 55 49 50 
			 Sefton 63 63 57 56 
			 Sheffield 59 59 54 53 
			 Shropshire 51 45 38 36 
			 Solihull 42 41 31 34 
			 Somerset 56 56 48 46 
			 South and West Devon 52 51 43 41 
			 South Cheshire 57 56 44 45 
			 South Derbyshire 49 48 44 44 
			 South Essex 45 44 39 40 
			 South Humber 52 52 47 48 
			 South Lancashire 43 43 38 39 
			 South Staffordshire 50 49 42 41 
			 Southampton and South West Hampshire 56 55 48 47 
			 St. Helens and Knowsley 58 58 49 49 
			 Stockport 64 63 56 57 
			 Suffolk 59 58 51 52 
			 Sunderland 57 55 46 47 
			 Tees 63 64 56 56 
			 Wakefield 62 61 53 52 
			 Walsall 49 47 42 42 
			 Warwickshire 50 49 41 37 
			 West Kent 40 39 35 35 
			 West Pennine 55 56 48 49 
			 West Surrey 47 44 38 37 
			 West Sussex 51 49 42 42 
			 Wigan and Bolton 58 58 53 52 
			 Wiltshire 48 42 34 37 
			 Wirral 62 62 56 57 
			 Wolverhampton 57 55 47 47 
			 Worcestershire 55 52 45 45 
		
	
	(155) Based on the number of registrations at 30 September each year
	(156) ONS 1996 to 1999 mid year population estimates based on the 1991 census are used to calculate the percentage of adults registered
	(157) Registration rate is not comparable to later figures because of the change in the registration period to 15 months
	(158) Three HAs: Cambridge and Huntingdon, East Norfolk and North West Anglia were replaced by two HAs: Cambridge and Norfolk in April 1999

Autism

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what arrangements exist for monitoring numbers of children with autism;
	(2)  what figures exist for the number of children diagnosed with autism since 1990.

Yvette Cooper: All local statutory authorities are responsible for ensuring that they have sufficient knowledge of local needs and priorities to inform the pattern of services in their area.
	Details of the number of children diagnosed with autism since 1990 are not available. In December 2001 the Medical Research Council (MRC) published a comprehensive review of autism research, which provides an authoritative overview of the current state of knowledge on the prevalence, incidence and causes of autism. The report was commissioned by the Department and produced with the help of a wide range of experts and a "lay" group including parents and representatives of autism charities. It is available on the MRC website at "www.mrc.ac.uk".

St. James' Hospital, Portsmouth

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what correspondence he has had concerning his Department's decision to challenge the declaration of a town green in the grounds of St. James' Hospital in Portsmouth; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will make a statement to the House on his proposal to take action against Portsmouth City Council in respect of St. James' Hospital;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with the DTLR concerning city council policy on open spaces; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what consultation he has had with the DTLR concerning Portsmouth City Council's policy on open spaces and St. James' Hospital site; and if he will make a statement;
	(5)  what assessment has been made of the compatibility between the proposed action by his Department against Portsmouth Council in regard to St. James' Hospital and the open space in cities policy; and if he will make a statement;
	(6)  what action he has taken in respect of Portsmouth City Council's decision to declare a town green in the grounds of St. James' Hospital; and for what reasons.

Hazel Blears: Apart from correspondence with our professional and legal advisers, the Department has received letters from Portsmouth City Council legal department and the hon. Member.
	Portsmouth City Council as the registration authority received an application to register part of St. James Hospital, Portsmouth as a Town or Village Green, and appointed an inspector to conduct a non-statutory inquiry which the Department opposed. The Council subsequently determined to approve the application. Based on legal advice the Department has filed an application for a review of the Council's decision. It seems unlikely that the drafters of the Commons Registration Act 1965 intended it to apply to National Health Service (NHS) land.
	Discussions have been held with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), who are the successor to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, making representation for guidance to make it clear that NHS land within hospitals should not be subject of future applications for registration as a Town or Village Green.
	The Department has not discussed with Portsmouth City Council its policy on open spaces either generally or specifically in connection with St. James Hospital. That is a matter for local discussions in the context of a planning application for development on the land remaining in the ownership of the NHS.
	The area of land in the proposed Town or Village Green is largely within an area declared surplus to NHS requirements. The site has been marketed with the benefit of outline planning permission for residential development granted by Portsmouth City Council, and with open space provided in accordance with that outline consent.

Milk

Robert Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultation will be conducted with parents about the introduction of fluoridated milk in schools.

Hazel Blears: When a scheme is under consideration, health service staff visit the school and explain the objectives of the scheme both to parents and staff. Leaflets and letters are then issued to parents, which indicate that children who are taking fluoride tablets or drops do not need fluoridated milk and that milk without the addition of fluoride will remain available. A consent form is attached to the letter which parents have to sign before their child can receive fluoridated milk.

Milk

Robert Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether children drinking fluoridated milk in schools will be monitored for fluoride excess.

Hazel Blears: The design of the milk fluoridation scheme is such that it is unlikely that children will consume excess fluoride and children are not being monitored on an individual basis. However, there is general monitoring in place to evaluate the scheme. The amount of fluoride excreted in a 24 hour period gives a good indication of the amount consumed. Recently published data show that a number of children in the scheme have had their fluoride excretion levels measured and no evidence was found of any problems. In addition, fluorosis levels will be monitored in four health authorities in the scheme.

Eastbourne District General Hospital

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many in-patient admissions there were to Eastbourne District General Hospital in each of the last 10 years.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is collected centrally at trust level, not by individual hospital. The figures for Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust are as follows:
	
		Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust: inpatient admissions 1991–92 to 2000–01
		
			 Year Number 
		
		
			 1991–92 30,259 
			 1992–93 32,057 
			 1993–94 34,322 
			 1994–95 34,669 
			 1995–96 36,752 
			 1996–97 37,738 
			 1997–98 38,018 
			 1998–99 40,671 
			 1999–00 41,878 
			 2000–01 42,689 
		
	
	Note:
	1. The Trust was established in its current form in 1992.
	Source:
	"Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)"

Hospital Beds

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been provided for hospital bed places since 1997 for hospitals in (a) England and (b) Coventry.

John Hutton: Funding for hospital beds is not identified separately within health authority allocations.
	Since 1997, total health authority allocations have risen from £20.9 billion to £41.8 billion in 2002–03. Ringfencing within allocations is kept to a minimum to allow health authorities to manage flexibly all the resources available to them. It is for health authorities in partnership with primary care organisations and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities, modernising services and meeting NHS Plan targets.

Hospital Design

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the design and construction of (a) new hospitals, (b) hospital extensions and (c) hospital refurbishment.

John Hutton: 'Achieving Excellence in Healthcare Design' is the Department's programme to deliver design excellence in national health service buildings. We are raising the profile of design, partnering with key architectural professional bodies and supporting the NHS by providing advice and guidance at key stages of the procurement process.
	Each hospital embarking on a new development, however large or small, will nominate a local design champion from the Trust board to ensure that the new building provides a high quality patient-focused environment with good working conditions for staff and buildings that make a positive contribution to the local neighbourhood.
	To ensure that good design is embedded within the NHS hospital building programme design proposals will be reviewed by a panel, led by NHS Estates with the Prince's Foundation, CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) and others. Designs will be reviewed at the earliest stages of the procurement process before a preferred bidder is chosen.
	Future new projects will need to provide evidence of the involvement of staff, patients and the public in planning their design.

Hospital Design

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in drawing up the legal and financial framework within which foundation hospitals will operate.

John Hutton: The full implications and details surrounding the establishment of foundation hospitals are still being explored. We are working with a broad range of interested parties including 3 star trusts to take this work forward.

Hospital Design

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assistance he plans to give to rural hospitals in the new status health authorities.

John Hutton: The NHS Plan sets out our vision for a health service designed around the patient, offering a comprehensive range of services for everyone, using the guiding principle of providing as much care as possible as close to home as possible.
	It will be for local primary care organisations, working in partnership with the new health authorities, to develop services that meet the needs of the community they serve, taking account of clinical standards and safety and the views of local people. Rural hospitals clearly have an important role to play in meeting patients' desire for care closer to home.

Intermediate Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the number of people receiving intermediate care preventing unnecessary hospital admission for (a) Q1 1999–2000, (b) Q2 1999–2000, (c) Q3 1999–2000, (d) Q4 1999–2000, (e) Q1 2000–01, (f) Q2 2000–01, (g) Q3 2000–01, (h) Q4 2000–01, (i) Q1 2001–02, (j) Q2 2001–02 and (k) Q3 2001–02.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 15 March 2002
	Figures are collected on:
	number of people referred to/receiving intermediate care in a residential setting ('rapid response'/'supported discharge') to prevent hospital admission;
	number of people referred to non-residential intermediate care teams to prevent hospital admission.
	Data are only available on a quarterly basis for Q1, Q2 & Q3 2001–02, and have been placed in the Library.

Care Worker Training

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 432W, on care worker training, what funding he has made available to meet the costs of training care workers to NVQ level II (a) in respect of the draft domiciliary care standards and (b) in respect of the care home standards.

Jacqui Smith: With regard to domiciliary care workers I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 7 February 2002, Official Report, column 117W. Provision has been made in the personal social services standard spending assessment (PSS SSA) in 2002–03 and 2003–04 for the training of care workers to NVQ level 2 standard as set out in the care standards. The PSS SSA is unhypothecated, and it is for individual councils to consider how much to spend on this training in the light of local circumstances.
	In April 2001 we set up a fund to help towards the implementation of the national training strategy for the social care work force. This fund is being disbursed by TOPSS (the national training organisation for social care) through their regional training forums. There was £2 million in this fund for 2001–02 and it has been used to embed induction training and it has been available to train staff working in the voluntary, private and statutory sectors.
	The fund has increased to £15 million for 2002–03. This money will be used to support 26,500 staff to undertake training. Some 11,500 of these staff will be undertaking assessor, verifier or mentor training in order to strengthen NVQ frameworks, enabling staff to complete their NVQs in future years.

Care Homes

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish for consultation the assessment tool commissioned from the Social Care Association to meet the care home regulations in respect of the staffing mix in care homes.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 21 March 2002
	We are currently considering the details of the guidance.

Nursing Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the protocols that are being developed regarding funding of nursing care.

Jacqui Smith: These will be published as soon as they have been agreed. Copies will be placed on the Department's website.

Nursing Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of nursing homes charging extra administration costs for payment of the free nursing care contribution; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to him today.

Nurses (Overseas Recruitment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new NHS nurses since 1999 have been recruited from overseas; and what percentage of the total new recruitment intake they represent.

John Hutton: The Department's workforce censuses do not record the nationality of the nurses working in the national health service. It is not therefore possible to calculate the number of nurses recruited from overseas or the percentage of the new recruitment intake that they represent.
	The new nurses working in the national health service are made up of newly qualified staff, overseas recruits and nurses returning to work in the national health service.
	In order to practise as a nurse, overseas applicants must register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), formerly the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting. Overseas nurses registered with the NMC do not necessarily work in the national health service The number of entrants to the register in the last three years are shown in the table.
	
		Overseas trained nurses and midwives registering with the UKCC
		
			  1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Overseas nurses registered with the UKCC 3,621 5,945 8,403

Nurses (Overseas Recruitment)

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent measures have been taken and what safeguards exist to ensure the competence of locum doctors.

John Hutton: We introduced a new Code of Practice for the employment of locum doctors in 1997. This remains the current guidance and requires NHS employers who use locums to conduct vigorous checks and to ensure that they are properly supervised. The Code also requires locum agencies to ensure that the doctors they supply are of the appropriate quality and have the necessary credentials and qualifications.
	We are determined, however, to improve on these arrangements. We are now developing proposals to extend the existing appraisal arrangements for NHS consultants and principal GPs to locum doctors. This will ensure that these doctors have their professional development needs identified by NHS appraisers and get the same support as substantive doctors to keep their practice up-to-date. We are also working with the General Medical Council on proposals to revalidate doctors regularly. These arrangements will apply to locums who will be required to produce the same standards of evidence about their practice as all other doctors. We will then introduce a new Code of Practice through which we see NHS Professionals adopting a central role in supporting and quality assuring locums.
	In primary care, non-principal Gps are now required to register on a Primary Care Trust/Health Authority supplementary list before they can work as a deputy or as an assistant in general medical services.
	In order to be registered, non-principals need to satisfy certain criteria that include checks on their qualifications and criminal record. The criteria mirror that required for principal GPs applying to join a medical list and will be used by health authorities to determine the suitability of a practitioner applying to work in their area.

Trainee Doctors (Care Standards)

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he plans to introduce to ensure safe standards of care when increasing numbers of trainee doctors move to shifts.

John Hutton: Shifts are an established mode of working for doctors in training and recommended rest requirements already exceed those of the European Working Time Directive. Weekly hours of work and maximum shift lengths are currently subject to limits agreed with the British Medical Association, and these too will be subject to the further limitations of the Working Time Directive from August 2004.
	Recent figures show that trainee doctors working full shifts are more likely to meet the rest requirements than those undertaking other patterns of work.

GP Vacancies

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GP vacancies there were at the latest available date.

John Hutton: The 98 (out of 100) health authorities in England and Wales who responded to the Department's 2001 GP vacancy survey reported 2,464 vacancies as current at some time during the 12-month period from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001. These vacancies will reflect both staff turnover and the creation of new posts.
	77 per cent. of the GP vacancies filled between April 2000 and March 2001 were filled in six months or less, and there were an average of 6.9 applications per vacancy.
	Further details are available in the Department of Health publication "General Practitioner Recruitment, Retention and Vacancy Survey 2001 England and Wales". It is available as www.doh.gov.uk/stats/ gprrvsurvey2001.htm or in the Library.

Doctors

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent (a) hospital doctors and (b) GPs there were in the NHS in each year since 1979.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in tables which have been placed in the Library.
	Whole-time equivalent data for general practitioners (GPs) was not available prior to 1990. There was no provision for GPs to work anything less than full-time, therefore whole-time equivalent data was not available.
	The headcount number of hospital medical staff increased by 92 per cent. between 1979 and 2001. In the same period, the number of practitioners and unrestricted principals and equivalents increased by 33 per cent. and 31 per cent. respectively.

Midwives

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies were unfilled in the NHS for qualified midwives in each of the last five years.

John Hutton: The number of midwives working in the NHS increased from 22,570 to 23,080 between September 2000 and September 2001.
	The Department has only collected vacancy information as at 31 March for the last three years. The information requested is in the table.
	
		3-month vacancies for all qualified midwives
		
			  3-month vacancy rates (%) 3-month vacancies Staff in post 
		
		
			 March 1999 2.1 400 18,170 
			 March 2000 2.8 510 17,880 
			 March 2001 2.6 470 17,660 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Three-month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March each year which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole-time equivalents).
	2. Three-month vacancy rates are three-month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three-month vacancies plus staff in post from the previous September non-medical workforce census (whole time equivalent).
	3. Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.
	4. Percentages rounded to one decimal place.
	Source:
	Department of Health vacancies survey each year and non-medical workforce census

Nurses

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses are employed in accident and emergency departments in England.

John Hutton: It is not possible to separately identify nurses employed in accident and emergency (A&E) departments.
	On 30 September 2001, there were 241,910 nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff within the acute, elderly and general area of work.
	The Reforming Emergency Care Strategy was announced in October 2001. It provides £40 million new investment between now and March 2003 to recruit 600 additional A&E nurses. This will provide sufficient staff to allow separation of services for patients with minor injury or illness from those patients with more serious conditions in all A&E departments.

Nurses

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many whole-time equivalent (a) health visitors, (b) school nurses, (c) district nurses and (d) community psychiatric nurses were in training in each region in September of each year since 1997 broken down by (i) gender and (ii) ethnic origin.

John Hutton: Information collected by the Department does not record the gender or ethnicity of health visitors, school nurses, district nurses and community psychiatric nurses in training. Information was not collected in 1997–98. The whole-time equivalent numbers in training between 1999–2000 and 2000–01 in each region are shown in the tables.
	
		Health visitors in training 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			   1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Trent 55 53 59 
			 South East 89 81 92 
			 South West 42 34 38 
			 Northern and Yorkshire 129 142 190 
			 North West 76 84 84 
			 London 101 99 105 
			 Eastern 38 53 68 
			 West Midlands 52 52 60 
			  
			 Total 580 598 695 
		
	
	
		School nurses in training 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			   1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Trent 7 9 14 
			 South East 19 20 21 
			 South West 1 6 20 
			 Northern and Yorkshire 31 27 18 
			 North West 14 23 23 
			 London 24 24 28 
			 Eastern 5 10 18 
			 West Midlands 19 18 20 
			  
			 Total 119 137 162 
		
	
	
		District nurses in training 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			   1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Trent 50 44 49 
			 South East 96 90 95 
			 South West 36 28 42 
			 Northern and Yorkshire 103 127 80 
			 North West 64 71 71 
			 London 93 101 103 
			 Eastern 38 46 53 
			 West Midlands 62 67 67 
			  
			 Total 541 574 560 
		
	
	
		Community psychiatric nurses in training 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			   1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Trent 3 4 0 
			 South East 64 51 34 
			 South West 13 16 7 
			 Northern and Yorkshire 13 38 6 
			 North West 37 30 30 
			 London 55 43 67 
			 Eastern 19 38 29 
			 West Midlands 40 34 34 
			  
			 Total 244 253 207 
		
	
	Source:
	1998–99 data—November 1999 Financial and Workforce Information Return
	1999–2000 data—November 2000 Financial and Workforce Information Return
	2000–01 data—November 2001 Financial and Workforce Information Return

Nurses

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates he has made of the number of whole time equivalent nurses who will be performing non-clinical duties with (a) the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, (b) the Commission for Health Improvement and (c) the NHS Modernisation Agency.

John Hutton: pursuant to his reply, 10 January 2002, c. 999W
	I regret that my previous reply was incorrect. It should read as follows:
	The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) and the NHS Modernisation Agency are responsible for improvements in quality across the NHS. Nurses are employed within these agencies to provide the frontline perspective and to influence development.
	Numbers are subject to change but in December there were two nurses employed in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 35 nurses employed in the Commission for Health Improvement and 51 in the Modernisation Agency.

Haemophilia Drugs

Jackie Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK-resident patients over the age of 16 are being treated with rcFVIII.

Yvette Cooper: pursuant to her reply, 11 January 2002, c.1029W
	I regret that my previous reply was incorrect. It should read as follows:
	The United Kingdom Haemophilia Doctors Organisation (UKHDCO) carried out a survey in 2001 which revealed that all haemophilia A patients in England under the age of 20 (43 per cent. of the total) and 6.5 per cent. of those over age 20 are receiving, or are entitled to receive, Recombinant Factor VIII. The UKHCDO estimates that the situation is likely to be similar in Northern Ireland, although no data are currently available. In Scotland and Wales, all patients are eligible to receive Recombinant Factor VIII.

Tobacco

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to further reduce tobacco use among children and adults.

Yvette Cooper: In 1988, the Government introduced a comprehensive strategy to reduce tobacco use among children and adults, 'Smoking Kills'. Key features are:
	a comprehensive mass media campaign highlighting the dangers of smoking and publicising the free NHS smoking helpline (0800 169 0 169) with additional helplines for pregnant women and ethnic minorities;
	specific programmes targeting manual groups, pregnant women and ethnic minorities;
	projects designed to provide focused support in communities such as in prisons and hospitals;
	smoking cessation services across the country;
	nicotine replacement therapy and Zyban on prescription;
	an enforcement protocol strengthening action against illegal sales to under 16s;
	a public places charter encouraging the provision of smoke-free areas;
	banning tobacco advertising and promotion. The Government have taken on Lord Clement-Jones' Private Member's Bill which completed its Third Reading in the House of Lords on 15 March; as well as
	concerted action to tackle smuggling.
	Specifically aimed at reducing tobacco use among young people, the Department has commissioned 'Smokescreen', a film-making initiative developed by young people for young people. The films have been shown on cable TV and a teaching pack is being produced for schools. The Government's Healthy Schools Programme also addresses the health risks posed by smoking and substance misuse.
	In England, the prevalence rate in the 11 to 15 year-old age group has fallen from 13 per cent. in 1996 to 10 per cent. in 2001. In adults (aged 16+) prevalence rates fell from 28 per cent. in 1998 to 27 per cent. in 2000. The prevalence in adult manual groups in England fell from 33 per cent. in 1998 to 31 per cent. in 2000.